UNlVSRSITf  OP 

O' 

SAN  DIEGO 


* 


PAULOWNIA 


PAULOWNIA 

SEVEN  STORIES  FROM  CONTEM- 
PORARY JAPANESE   WRITERS 


WITH  A  FOREWORD 
By  JOHN  ERSKINE,  Ph.D. 

Professor  oj  English,  Columbia  University 


NEW  YORK 
DUFFIELD  &   COMPANY 

1918 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
DUFFIELD  &   COMPANY 


THIS  BOOK  Is  DEDICATED 

TO 

MY  MOTHER 
WITH 

LOVE  AND  PIETY 


CONTENTS 

*-  TAKASE  BUNE 

BY  Mow  OGWAI 3 

— HANAKO 

BY  MORI  OGWAI 35 

-^  THE  PIER 

BY  MORI  OGWAI 55 

THE  BILL-COLLECTING 

BY  NAGAI  KAFU 71 

UKIYOE 

BY  NAGAI  KAFU 105 

—A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 

BY  SHIMAZAKI  TOSON       ....    117 

v  TSUGARU  STRAIT 

BY  SHIMAZAKI  TOSON       .       .       .       .135 


FOREWORD 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  write  a  foreword 
for  my  friend  Mr.  Taketomo's  collec- 
tion of  Japanese  tales.  Our  admiration 
of  Japanese  art  is  now  so  deep  and  so 
wide  in  Western  countries  that  we  are 
sometimes  startled  to  realize  how  little 
we  know  of  contemporary  Japanese 
writing — which  means,  how  little  we 
know  of  the  inner  life  of  Japan  today. 
While  statesmen  and  diplomats  agon- 
ize, contriving  elaborate  machinery  for 
the  restoration  and  the  maintenance  of 
international  goodwill,  it  is  in  the  power 
of  any  of  us,  by  reading  such  books  as 
this,  to  become  better  acquainted  in  a 
pleasant  hour  with  our  neighbor's  mind; 
ix 


FOREWORD 


and  upon  acquaintance  goodwill  grows. 
The  service  is  perhaps  beyond  estimate 
which  Japanese  literature  may  render 
to  us  in  the  United  States,  by  thus  pre- 
paring the  seeds  of  friendship  and  of 
justice  between  nations. 

Whether  Mr.  Taketomo  has  made 
faithful  translations,  I  cannot  say,  since 
I  know  nothing  of  the  language  and 
very  little  of  the  literature  from  which 
these  pieces  are  drawn.  But  it  is  evi- 
dent that  these  translations  live,  and 
bring  before  us  a  world  of  people.  We 
observe  that  the  persons  in  the  stories 
are  like  ourselves,  or  like  the  characters 
who  may  very  well,  we  believe,  sur- 
round us.  Perhaps  Mr.  Taketomo  has 
chosen  from  authors  under  the  influence 
of  Western  literature,  but  in  any  case 
true  pictures  of  life  in  the  East  would 
probably  serve  approximately  to  por- 


FOREWORD 


tray  us  at  home.  The  episode  subtly 
told  in  "Hanako,"  the  extraordinary 
truth  in  "Takase  Bune,"  the  story  of 
the  man  who  killed  his  brother,  are  as 
pictures  of  our  world,  seen  through  our 
eyes;  what  strangeness  there  is,  dwells 
in  the  language. 

The  literary  method  of  these  sketches 
suggests  the  art  of  the  great  Russian 
or  French  story-tellers.  Yet  to  call 
these  selections  realistic  is  not  to  ac- 
count for  all  of  their  quality.  Perhaps 
the  Japanese  writers  imitated  Western 
realists,  but  there  is  something  alien, 
something  which  we  are  likely  to  call 
Japanese,  in  their  power  to  represent 
life  as  it  is,  or  as  it  seems  to  be.  This 
power  springs  from  the  imagination 
rather  than  from  a  theory  of  art.  The 
truth  of  the  scenes  here  recorded  is 
naive  as  well  as  poignant.  Is  it  because 
xi 


FOREWORD 


the  Oriental  mind  is  new  to  us,  and 
seems  therefore  more  acute,  more  sensi- 
tive, simply  because  its  approach  is  un- 
familiar? Perhaps;  but  I  think  there  is 
something  here  which  will  not  wear 
threadbare  on  closer  acquaintance — as 
imaginative  power,  such  as  all  artists 
long  for,  to  feel  and  see  vividly  the 
whole  drama  of  our  daily  life.  This 
power  comes  from  a  way  of  living, 
rather  than  from  a  way  of  writing.  If 
Japan  can  teach  us  this,  we  may  well 
spare  an  hour  to  learn  from  her. 

JOHN  EKSKINE. 


Xll 


INTRODUCTION 

Here  are  seven  stories  by  three  con- 
temporary authors  of  Japan.  On  trans- 
planting them  into  the  soil  of  the  Eng- 
lish language,  I  must  make  a  brief  ac- 
count of  each  author. 

Mr.  Mori  Ogwai,  a  surgeon-general 
in  the  Japanese  army,  is  also  renowned 
for  his  deep  scholarship  in  literature  and 
for  his  own  writings,  which  are  of  en- 
during value.  His  translation  of 
Andersen's  "Improvisatoren"  was  re- 
garded as  the  best  specimen  of  this  kind 
of  literature,  and  is  still  widely  read 
among  the  young  men  of  Japan.  I  do 
not  know  how  often  I  have  read  this 
book ;  on  leaving  the  shores  of  my  home 
xiii 


INTRODUCTION 


country  I  did  not  forget  to  put  it  in  my 
trunk  among  a  few  classics  of  Japan, 
for  it  was  the  book  in  which  I  was  in- 
troduced first  to  Italy  and  to  Dante. 
We  owe  to  Mr.  Mori  two  admirable 
translations  from  American  authors, 
"Rip  Van  Winkle,"  by  Washington 
Irving,  and  one  of  those  stories  of  early 
California  life,  by  Bret  Harte.  These 
were  collected  in  a  book,  with  other 
translated  stories  by  Daudet,  Tolstoi, 
Turgeniev,  Hacklaender,  Stern  and 
Kirschner.  Mr.  Mori  wrote  many 
books  of  criticism  and  translation, 
among  which  his  translations  of 
"Faust"  and  "Gotz,"  and  his  "Life  of 
Goethe"  are  monumental  works.  Be- 
sides these  he  has  written  many  original 
poems,  dramas  and  stories.  The  stories 
included  in  this  book  are  taken  from 
some  of  his  latest  works, 
xiv 


INTRODUCTION 


In  my  judgment,  "Takase  Bune" 
seems  to  reveal  most  of  his  qualities  and 
merits.  The  subject  was  taken  from 
the  life  of  the  eighteenth  century  when 
Japan  was  under  the  iron  rule  of  the 
so-called  Shogunate.  The  two  figures, 
who  are  nothing  but  a  humble  criminal 
and  a  guard,  are  reflections  of  the  clear 
minds  of  the  age  as  well  as  of  the  spirit 
of  Japan,  which  partakes  of  centuries 
of  thought.  The  plot  is  extremely  sim- 
ple; the  characters  are  only  two,  de- 
picted with  the  writer's  tranquil,  digni- 
fied and  tempered  words  which  some- 
how reminded  Japanese  readers  of 
Flaubert  or  Merimee. 

Mr.  Mori  may  not  regard  the  other 
two  stories  as  very  important  among 
his  works.  But  they  were  so  fresh  and 
sweet  to  us  that  when  we  saw  them  in  a 
magazine  we  felt  as  if  we  were  looking 

XV 


INTRODUCTION 


at  the  white  roses  in  the  morning  dew. 
It  is  the  color  of  white  that  is  charac- 
teristic of  his  writings.  His  treatment 
of  Rodin  may  be  a  sort  of  tour  de  force > 
but  still  it  has  a  vivid  description  of  the 
character.  I  read  it  with  a  friend  in  the 
palm  room  of  a  restaurant  at  the  river- 
side of  Kyoto,  with  a  glass  of  cralet  and 
a  plate  of  fruits;  we  were  delightfully 
surprised  when  Rodin  asked  about  the 
mountain  and  the  sea.  There  is  a 
glimpse  of  Hiroshige's  print  which  is 
seen  often  in  some  corner  of  a  Euro- 
pean parlor,  but  so  faint  that  the  old 
blue  color  passes  almost  unnoticed  in 
the  general  tone  of  the  marble  white. 
In  "The  Pier"  you  will  find  the  same 
reflection  of  the  Japanese  mind,  under 
a  brighter  sky,  in  the  character  of  a 
noble  lady.  How  different  she  is  from 
all  your  ladies  of  society!  I  cannot 
xvi 


INTRODUCTION 


say  which  is  better  or  which  is  happier, 
but  the  innermost  sentiment  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  different  anywhere  in 
the  world.  It  is  wonderful  to  consider 
the  two,  and  to  think  of  their  difference 
in  manners  and  customs.  Compared 
with  the  hero  of  "Takase  Bune,"  you 
will  find  that  the  external  development 
of  Japan,  its  wealth  and  social  ranks, 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  moral  sen- 
timent of  our  people.  That  is  what  we 
are  somehow  proud  of,  and  somehow 
ashamed  of,  at  the  same  time. 

If  the  general  tone  of  Mr.  Mori's 
works  is  white,  the  color  of  Mr.  Nagai 
Kafu  is  peacock  blue,  or  it  may  be  well 
to  say,  crimson.  He  is  essentially  a 
colorist.  His  colors  have  become  more 
somber  with  his  maturity  till  we  have 
such  works  as  "The  Bill-Collecting." 
Here  you  will  find  a  maidservant,  who 
xvii 


INTRODUCTION 


is  compelled  to  work  for  the  class  most 
humiliating  at  the  present  time  in 
Japan;  we  see  the  sensitive  feeling  of 
her  heart,  like  the  "dewy  lespedeza,"  as 
it  is  called  in  Japan,  and  the  overflow- 
ing indignation  of  the  writer  at  the 
sham  respectability  of  society.  It  is 
written  by  the  masterly  hand  of  a  social 
satirist.  Is  this  a  "La  Dame  au 
Camelia"  who  is  speaking  under  the  dis- 
guise of  a  Japanese  maid?  No;  Mr. 
Nagai  is  a  Japanese  poet,  all  in  all,  but 
his  attitude  toward  the  world,  his  taste, 
and  his  early  mode  of  writing  often  sug- 
gested the  decadent  literati  at  the  end 
of  the  old  feudal  government.  Spend- 
ing most  of  his  younger  days  in  China, 
America,  and  in  France,  this  character 
became  submerged  so  deeply  under  the 
surface  of  his  writings  that  when  his 
two  volumes  of  stories  written  in 
xviii 


INTRODUCTION 


America  and  France  were  published,  he 
appeared  as  a  new  star  in  the  literary 
world  of  Japan.  He  watched  the  leaves 
falling  in  the  Central  Park;  he  sighed 
to  see  how  soon  the  leaves  of  America 
are  on  the  ground,  for  he  is  a  poet  in  the 
real  sense.  How  emotional  he  is  before 
a  "thing  of  beauty"  may  be  noticed  in 
his  sketches  of  Ukiyoe,  which  I  have 
included  in  this  book. 

Mr.  Shimazaki  Toson  was  first 
known  as  a  lyric  poet,  and  he  was  a 
successful  poet,  too,  for  once  there  was 
none  in  Japan  who  was  a  peer  with  Mr. 
Shimazaki  in  the  poetry  of  dolce  stil 
nuovo.  "At  last  the  new  days  have 
come!"  he  wrote  triumphantly  in  the 
preface  of  the  collection  of  his  poems, 
and  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  we 
forget  the  strain  of  Nessun  maggior 
dolore  which  came,  unconsciously,  from 
xix 


INTRODUCTION 


the  mouth  of  our  young  poet.  With 
the  Russo-Japanese  war,  the  literature 
of  Japan  changed  its  whole  aspect.  It 
was  called  the  "destruction  of  vision," 
or  the  "age  of  disillusion,"  and  was  the 
proclamation  of  naturalism.  Since 
then  Mr.  Shimazaki  has  taken  himself 
out  of  the  poetical  field  and  retired  to 
the  mountain  in  his  native  province. 
We  did  not  hear  from  him  again  till 
two  or  three  years  afterward,  when  he 
returned  to  Tokyo  with  a  novel.  Then 
he  wrote  several  stories  and  novels,  but 
alas !  there  was  no  more  the  poet  of  the 
Alpine  breeze.  His  novel  was  com- 
pared with  "Madame  Bovary,"  and  his 
stories  with  Turgeniev  and  Maupas- 
sant. But  I  think  the  critic  who  men- 
tioned the  pictures  of  Millet  was  most 
clear-sighted,  one  who  knew  his  ten- 
dency, in  reality.  The  two  short  stories 

XX 


INTRODUCTION 


which  I  include  in  this  book  will  show 
this.  Intimacy  was  the  paramount 
thing  he  brought  out  in  his  writings. 
Intimacy  with  nature  and  intimacy  with 
life,  which  he  tried  to  clothe  with  plain 
home-spun  realism.  But  he  did  it  so 
skillfully  that  even  amid  the  current  of 
crude  naturalism  he  stood  preeminently 
as  an  artist. 

These  writers,  I  am  glad  to  say,  are 
typical  stylists  of  contemporary  Jap- 
anese literature.  Their  tendencies  are 
different,  and  tendencies  of  thought  are 
always  moving.  On  reading  these 
stories  some  critics  will  say  that  there 
is  classicism  in  Mr.  Mori,  romanticism 
in  Mr.  Nagai  and  naturalism  in  Mr. 
Shimazaki.  If  you  will  put  "Neo"  be- 
fore each  "ism,"  it  will  be  more  accu- 
rate. But  what  is  the  use?  It  is  al- 
ways difficult  to  decide  what  tendency 
xxi 


INTRODUCTION 


an  author  has  shown  in  his  works,  and 
it  is  often  misleading  to  trace  back  the 
lineage  of  the  minds  of  the  East — no 
matter  what  was  their  culture,  and  what 
was  their  constitution  of  mind — in  the 
much-questioned  traditions  of  the  West. 
Walter  Pater  says  that  "in  that  House 
Beautiful,  which  the  creative  minds  of 
all  generations — the  artists  and  those 
who  have  treated  life  in  the  spirit  of 
art — are  always  building  together,  for 
the  refreshment  of  the  human  spirit, 
these  operations  cease."  If  you  find  a 
beauty  in  the  lacquerware  of  Korin,  or 
in  the  black  and  white  of  Sesshu,  here 
you  will  also  find  some  beauties  which 
are  entirely  proper  to  us  Japanese,  and 
which  also  are  tending  to  the  deeper 
current  of  humanity. 

The  title  of  the  book,  "Paulownia," 
has  a  particular  meaning  to  the  Japan- 
xxii 


INTRODUCTION 


ese  mind.  The  word  paulownia  is  the 
name  of  a  tree  from  which  a  lute  of 
peculiar  charm  is  made,  one  which  pro- 
duces various  sounds.  In  this  book  are 
seven  productions  by  three  different 
authors,  all  showing  the  melody  of  the 
Japanese  mind. 

TORAO  TAKETOMO. 


xxiii 


TAKASE  BUNE 


TAKASE  BUNE 
By  Mom  OGWAI 

TAKASE  BUNE  is  a  small  junk 
that  goes  up  and  down  the  river 
Takase  in  Kyoto.  During  the  Toku- 
gawa  period,  when  a  criminal  of  Kyoto 
was  sentenced  to  banishment  to  a  dis- 
tant island,  the  relatives  of  the  criminal 
were  called  out  to  the  prison  house 
where  they  were  allowed  to  bid  him 
farewell.  Then  the  criminal  was  taken 
to  Takase  bune  and  was  sent  to  Osaka. 
The  man  who  took  charge  of  him  was  a 
Doshin,  or  a  private,  who  was  under  the 
command  of  Machibugyo,  the  city  mag- 
istrate of  Kyoto,  and  it  was  the  custom 
3 


PAULOWNIA 


that  this  private  permitted  the  chief 
among  the  relatives  to  go  on  the  junk 
with  the  criminal.  This  was  not  openly 
acknowledged  by  the  government,  but 
was  called  "looking  over  with  generous 
eye,"  or  the  tacit  toleration. 

Though  at  that  time  the  criminals 
who  were  sentenced  to  a  distant  island 
were  considered  as  persons  of  great  of- 
fense, it  was  not  that  the  majority  of 
them  were  condemned  with  such  fero- 
cious rascals  as  the  incendiaries  or  the 
murderers.  Most  of  the  criminals  who 
went  on  board  Takase  bune  were  peo- 
ple who  did  unintentional  crimes  by  so- 
called  misapprehension.  As  an  exam- 
ple, there  was  a  kind  of  criminal  who 
committed  suicide  with  his  lover,  but  re- 
mained alive  after  he  killed  his  partner. 

Taking  such  criminals  on  board, 
Takase  bune  was  rowed  out  when  the 
4 


TAKASE  BUNE 


sunset  bells  began  to  ring  from  the 
temples;  it  ran  toward  the  east,  facing 
the  dark  houses  of  Kyoto  on  either 
shore,  and  went  down  across  the  river 
Kamo.  In  this  junk,  the  criminal  and 
his  relatives  talked  over  their  lives 
through  the  night,  always  the  repetition 
of  the  same  story  of  which  the  repent- 
ance is  of  no  avail.  Listening  beside 
them,  the  private,  who  took  the  duty  of 
the  guard,  could  know  in  detail  the  sad 
circumstances  of  the  relatives  and  the 
family  from  which  the  criminal  has 
come  out.  This  was  the  situation  of 
which  the  judges  who  listened  to  the 
official  statements  or  the  court  deliveries 
on  the  white  sands  of  the  city  govern- 
ment, or  read  the  written  statements  on 
the  desk  of  the  office,  could  never 
dream. 

There     were     different     characters 
5 


PAULOWNIA 


among  the  persons  who  took  the  duty  of 
the  private ;  some  of  them  felt  only  an- 
noyance and  were  so  cold-hearted  that 
they  almost  wanted  to  cover  their  ears, 
while  some  others  were  deeply  moved 
with  the  sorrows  of  other  people  which 
touched  their  hearts,  though  they  would 
not  show  their  sympathy,  as  they  were 
doing  their  official  duty.  Sometimes, 
when  a  criminal  and  his  relatives  with 
the  most  unhappy  circumstances  hap- 
pened to  be  guarded  hy  the  private  of 
especially  tender  and  sympathetic 
heart,  this  private  could  not  help  weep- 
ing with  them. 

Therefore,  the  guarding  of  Takase 
bune  was  considered  and  disliked  as  the 
most  unpleasant  duty  among  the  pri- 
vates of  the  city  government. 

When  was  it?    Perhaps  it  may  have 
6 


TAKASB  BUNE 


been  during  the  age  of  Kwansei  (1789- 
1800),  when  Marquis  Shirakawa  Ra- 
kuwo  had  ruling  power  at  Edo.  In  a 
spring  evening  when,  as  they  say,  the 
cherry  blossoms  of  the  temple  Chioin 
fall  in  harmony  with  the  sunset  bells,  a 
strange  criminal  who  had  no  similarity 
to  any  that  had  been  seen  till  that  time 
was  taken  to  Takase  bune. 

His  name  was  Kisuke,  a  man  of 
about  thirty  years  of  age,  who  had  no 
settled  abode.  As  he  had  no  relative  to 
be  called  to  the  prison  house,  he  went 
on  the  junk  all  alone. 

Haneda  Shobei,  a  private,  who  was 
ordered  to  guard  him  and  went  on  board 
with  him,  had  heard  only  that  this 
Kisuke  was  guilty  of  the  crime  of  frat- 
ricide. Now,  while  he  was  escorting 
him  from  the  prison  house  to  the  pier, 
he  looked  at  the  appearance  of  this  thin 
7 


PAULOWNIA 


pale-colored  Kisuke,  and  found  him 
quite  frank  and  obedient,  respecting 
Shobei  as  an  officer  of  the  government, 
trying  not  to  offend  him  in  any  point. 
Moreover,  these  were  not  the  flatteries 
to  authority  under  the  pretention  of  the 
mildness  which  were  often  perceived 
among  the  criminals. 

Shobei  thought  it  strange,  and  so, 
after  they  went  on  board,  he  paid  mi- 
nute attention  to  the  actions  of  Kisuke, 
more  than  his  duty  required. 

That  day  the  wind  ceased  to  blow  in 
the  evening,  and  a  thin  cloud  that  cov- 
ered over  the  whole  face  of  the  sky 
blurred  the  outline  of  the  moon;  it  was 
an  evening  when  the  slow-approaching 
warmth  of  summer  was  felt  as  if  rising 
like  a  haze,  both  from  the  earth  on  the 
shore  and  the  river-bed.  After  they 
left  the  down-quarter  of  the  city  of  Ky- 
8 


TAKASE  BUNE 


oto,  and  passed  across  the  river  Kamo, 
the  surroundings  became  so  quiet  that 
they  only  heard  the  lappings  of  the 
water  cleaved  by  the  prow. 

Though  the  criminal  was  allowed  to 
sleep  in  the  night  boat,  Kisuke  did  not 
seem  even  to  lie  down,  but  kept  silent, 
looking  at  the  moon  whose  light  was 
changing  bright  and  dim,  according  to 
the  thickness  of  the  cloud.  His  fore- 
head was  cloudless,  and  his  eyes  had  a 
faint  brightness. 

Though  Shobei  was  not  looking 
straight  at  him,  he  was  constantly  keep- 
ing his  eyes  on  Kisuke,  repeating:  "This 
is  strange,  this  is  strange,"  in  his  mind, 
because  the  face  of  Kisuke  looked  so 
completely  happy  that  he  seemed  even 
to  begin  to  whistle  or  hum  a  song,  as  if 
he  was  not  afraid  of  annoying  the 
officer. 

9 


PAULOWNIA 


Shobei  thought  in  himself.  He  could 
not  remember  how  often  he  had  man- 
aged this  Takase  bune ;  but  all  the  crim- 
inals whom  he  had  taken  on  the  junk 
had  the  same  pitiful  appearance  that  he 
could  hardly  bear  to  see  the  sight. 
Now,  what  is  the  matter  with  this  man? 
He  looks  as  if  he  is  on  the  picnic  boat. 
It  is  said  that  he  killed  his  brother,  and 
no  matter  how  hateful  a  man  the  brother 
was,  and  what  the  circumstances  of  his 
killing  him,  he  must  be  feeling  badly  if 
he  has  a  human  heart.  This  pale-col- 
ored thin  fellow — is  he  such  a  peerless 
villain  who  is  entirely  lacking  in  that 
human  sentiment?  He  does  not  seem 
so.  Is  he,  haply,  insane?  No,  no,  his 
words  and  deportment  do  not  show  any 
such  self-contradiction.  The  more  he 
thought  of  the  attitude  of  Kisuke,  it  be- 


10 


TAKASE  BUNE 


came  more  difficult  for  Shobei  to  under- 
stand him. 

Becoming  impatient,  Shobei  ad- 
dressed him  at  last : 

"Kisuke,  what  are  you  thinking?" 

"Yes,  sir,"  replied  Kisuke,  who 
looked  around  him  and  seemed  to  be 
afraid  that  he  had  done  something  of- 
fensive to  the  officer.  With  quick  apol- 
ogy he  looked  up  to  learn  the  humor  of 
Shobei. 

Shobei  felt  that  he  must  make  him- 
self clear  and  apologize  for  the  sudden 
question,  which  had  no  concern  to  his 
official  duty.  So  he  said  thus: 

"Nay,  I  did  not  ask  you  with  any 
special  meaning.  In  fact,  I  wanted  to 
ask  you  about  your  feeling  in  going  to 
the  island.  I  have  guarded  a  great 
many  people  in  this  junk,  and,  though 
they  were  men  of  various  lives,  all  were 
11 


PAULOWNIA 


alike  in  lamenting  their  exile  and  wept 
through  the  night  with  the  relative  who 
looked  after  them  and  spent  an  evening 
in  this  junk.  But  looking  at  your  ap- 
pearance, I  think  you  do  not  worry 
about  going  to  the  island.  What  are 
you  thinking  of?" 

Kisuke  smiled,  and  said: 

"I  am  so  grateful  for  your  kind 
words.  Indeed  it  must  he  a  sad  thing 
for  other  people  to  go  to  the  island;  I 
also  sympathize  with  their  feeling.  But 
that  is  only  because  they  spent  easy 
lives  in  the  world.  No  doubt  that  Ky- 
oto is  a  splendid  place.  But  even  in 
that  splendid  place  there  will  never 
again  be  such  torment  as  I  have  experi- 
enced there.  The  government  was  so 
merciful  that  it  saved  my  life  and  or- 
dered me  to  be  sent  to  the  island.  How- 
ever sorrowful  the  island  may  be  it  can- 
12 


TAKASE  BUNE 


not  be  the  place  where  demons  live.  I 
never  have  had  the  place  where  I  could 
stay  as  my  home.  But  this  time  the 
government  ordered  me  to  make  the 
island  my  home,  and  allowed  me  to  stay 
there  without  worry,  and  this  is  the  first 
thing  that  I  am  so  thankful  for.  More- 
over, I  never  have  fallen  sick  in  spite 
of  this  feeble  constitution,  so  I  think 
I  never  will  hurt  my  body  by  exerting 
myself  with  any  hard  work  in  the  island. 
Then,  as  I  was  to  be  sent  to  the  island, 
I  was  given  two  hundred  pennies  which 
I  have  here." 

Thus  speaking,  Kisuke  placed  his 
hand  on  his  breast.  It  was  the  law  at 
that  time  that  a  person  who  was  sen- 
tenced to  the  banishment  to  the  island 
was  to  be  given  two  hundred  pieces  of 
copper. 

Kisuke  continued  his  words :  "I  have 
13 


PAULOWNIA 


to  confess  a  shameful  thing,  that  I  never 
have  had  the  sum  of  two  hundred  pen- 
nies thus  in  my  breast.  I  sought  to  get 
work  everywhere,  and  worked  very  hard 
as  soon  as  I  got  it,  and  I  had  to  deliver 
all  the  money  I  earned  to  another  man's 
hand.  I  was  pretty  well  off  if  I  could 
live  from  hand  to  mouth,  but  mostly  I 
paid  my  debts  and  borrowed  again. 
But  since  I  was  put  into  the  prison 
house  I  was  fed  without  doing  any 
work.  I  cannot  help  but  feel  grate- 
ful to  the  government  for  this  single 
fact.  Besides,  I  was  given  this  two 
hundred  pennies.  If  I  could  live  on  by 
things  which  will  be  given  by  the  gov- 
ernment, I  can  keep  these  two  hundred 
pennies  without  spending  any  of  them. 
This  is  the  first  time  that  I  ever  pos- 
sessed the  money  which  need  not  be 
spent.  Though  I  do  not  know  what 
14 


TAKASE  BUNE 


kind  of  work  I  can  do  there,  until  I  land 
on  the  island,  I  am  looking  forward 
with  pleasure  to  use  these  two  hundred 
pennies  as  a  capital  of  the  work  which 
I  do  in  the  island." 

After  he  said  this,  Kisuke  became 
silent. 

Though  Shobei  said,  "H'm,  is  that 
it?"  he  also  became  silent  for  a  while 
in  deep  meditation,  for  everything  he 
heard  was  quite  far  from  his  expecta- 
tion. 

Shobei  was  aged  almost  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  old  age,  and  had  already 
four  children  by  his  wife,  and,  with  his 
old  mother,  his  family  consisted  of 
seven  members.  Generally  he  was  liv- 
ing such  a  frugal  life  that  he  was  called 
a  miser,  and  he  would  not  buy  any 
clothes  except  the  night  clothings  and 
those  he  wore  at  the  office.  Unfortu- 
15 


PAULOWNIA 


nately,  however,  he  took  his  wife  from 
the  family  of  a  rich  merchant.  And, 
though  the  wife  had  good  intentions  to 
live  upon  his  stipend,  she  could  not  be 
economical  enough  to  satisfy  her  hus- 
band, because  she  had  the  habits  of  a 
spoiled  child  in  a  wealthy  family.  Fre- 
quently, when  the  figures  were  wrong  at 
the  end  of  the  month,  his  wife  borrowed 
the  money,  secretly,  from  her  home ;  for 
she  knew  that  her  husband  hates  the 
debt  as  the  caterpillar.  After  all,  this 
thing  could  not  be  hidden  from  a  hus- 
band. Shobei,  who  was  annoyed  even 
to  receive  the  things  from  her  home  on 
such  days  as  the  five  festivals,  or  the 
clothes  on  the  celebration  of  his  chil- 
dren's coming  of  age,  did  not  like  to 
hear  that  the  cracks  of  his  livelihood 
were  filled  up  from  her  home.  This  is 
the  reason  that  the  storms  blew,  now 
16 


TAKASE  BUNE 


and  then,  in  the  home  of  Haneda,  which 
otherwise  had  nothing  to  disturb  its 
peace. 

Listening,  now,  to  the  story  of 
Kisuke,  Shobei  compared  the  life  of 
Kisuke  to  his  own.  Kisuke  said  that 
he  had  to  deliver,  from  one  hand  to  the 
other,  the  money  that  he  earned  by  his 
work,  which  is  really  a  sad  and  miser- 
able condition.  But,  he  reflected  on  his 
life,  how  much  distance  there  was  be- 
tween Kisuke  and  himself.  Isn't  he 
also  one  who  is  living  only  by  the  sti- 
pend from  the  government  and  deliv- 
ering it  from  one  hand  to  the  other? 
The  difference  between  this  and  that  is 
only  the  difference  of  the  reeds  on  the 
abacus,  and  he  had  no  savings  to  cor- 
respond to  the  two  hundred  pennies 
which  were  so  precious  to  Kisuke. 

Now,  considering  the  difference  of 
17 


PAULOWNIA 


the  reeds,  it  was  reasonable  that  Kisuke 
was  pleased  with  the  coins  of  two  hun- 
dred pennies,  regarding  them  as  his  sav- 
ings. The  feeling  could  be  sympathized 
with  from  Shobei's  side,  but  no  matter 
how  great  the  difference  between  the 
reeds  may  be,  there  was  a  more  won- 
derful thing,  which  was  the  unselfish- 
ness of  Kisuke  and  his  feeling  of  satis- 
faction. 

Kisuke  suffered  when  he  could  not 
find  work  in  the  world,  and  when  he  had 
found  it  he  worked  hard  and  was  easily 
contented  by  only  getting  enough  to 
keep  him  from  hunger.  Since  he  was 
taken  to  the  prison  house  he  was  sur- 
prised to  see  that  the  food,  which  was 
so  hard  to  get  until  that  time,  was  given 
without  any  labor,  like  the  bestowment 
from  heaven,  and  he  felt  a  satisfaction 
which  he  never  had  experienced  before. 
18 


TAKASE  BUNE 


Here,  Shobei  found  a  greater  differ- 
ence, beside  that  of  the  reeds,  between 
them.  Though  his  livelihood,  which  he 
was  making  by  the  stipend,  became 
sometimes  short,  generally  the  expen- 
diture and  the  receipt  were  regular.  It 
was  life  to  the  full  extent  of  his  power 
to  comprehend  it.  Nevertheless  he 
never  felt  the  satisfaction  in  it.  Gen- 
erally he  felt  his  life  neither  fortunate 
nor  unfortunate.  In  the  deeper  part  of 
his  mind,  however,  an  apprehension  was 
always  lurking  which  made  him  think 
about  what  he  should  do  if,  while  thus 
living,  he  were  fallen  into  a  serious  ill- 
ness, or  if  he  were  suddenly  dismissed 
from  the  office,  and  this  apprehension 
appeared  in  the  field  of  his  conscious- 
ness whenever  he  learned  that  his  wife 
had  borrowed  money  from  her  home  to 
fill  up  the  shortness  of  the  expense. 
19 


PAULOWNIA 


Why  had  this  difference  come  to  his 
attention?  Looking  from  the  outside, 
he  considered  that  it  was  only  because 
Kisuke  had  no  dependents,  while  he, 
Shobei,  had  some.  But  this  is  not  true. 
Supposing  himself  a  single  man,  Shobei 
did  not  think  that  he  could  feel  like 
Kisuke.  He  thought  that  the  reason 
must  have  a  deeper  cause. 

Vaguely,  Shobei  tried  to  think  of  a 
thing  like  the  human  life.  When  one 
had  an  illness  he  thinks  only,  if  this  ill- 
ness was  not  in  him !  When  he  had  not 
his  daily  meal  he  thinks,  if  he  could 
only  eat !  When  he  had  no  savings  for 
some  unforeseen  accident  he  would 
think  only  of  a  small  amount  of  money. 
Even  then,  if  he  had  some,  could  he  not 
have  a  little  more !  Thus,  from  one  de- 
sire to  another,  man  does  not  seem  to 
stop,  no  matter  how  far  he  goes.  He 
20 


TAKASE  BUNE 


noticed  that  this  Kisuke  was  the  one 
who  showed  him  that  he  must  stop  and 
look  before  him. 

Shobei  looked  at  Kisuke  with  re- 
newed wonder  and  felt  as  if  a  halo  was 
shining  over  the  head  of  Kisuke,  who 
was  looking  up  to  the  sky. 

Gazing  at  the  face  of  Kisuke,  Shobei 
addressed  him  again,  saying: 

"Kisuke  san." 

This  time  he  said  "san"  or  Mr.,  but 
the.  appellation  was  not  changed  with 
full  consciousness.  As  soon  as  he  heard 
his  voice,  Shobei  noticed  that  this  was 
not  appropriate.  But  he  could  not  take 
back  the  word  which  was  already 
spoken. 

Kisuke,  who  replied,  "Yes,  sir," 
seemed  to  wonder  that  he  was  called 
with  "san,"  and  looked  timidly  at 
Shobei. 

21 


PAULOWNIA 


Bearing  his  awkwardness,  Shobei 
said: 

"I  may  be  too  inquisitive.  But  I 
have  heard  that  you  were  sentenced  to 
be  exiled  to  the  island  at  present  be- 
cause you  have  killed  a  man.  Will  you 
mind  to  tell  me  the  story?" 

Kisuke  said,  "Willingly,  sir,"  with 
the  appearance  as  if  to  plead  his  guilt, 
and  began  to  tell  the  story  in  a  low 
voice. 

"I  really  have  no  word  of  apology 
for  myself,  as  I  did  such  a  dreadful 
thing  under  a  great  misapprehension. 
Thinking  over  it  later  I  myself  cannot 
understand  why  such  a  thing  has  hap- 
pened. It  was  really  done  in  a  rapture. 
I  lost  my  parents  by  pestilence  when  I 
was  small,  and  was  left  alone  with  my 
younger  brother.  At  first  the  people  in 
our  neighborhood  pitied  us  and  we  grew 
22 


TAKASE  BUNE 


up,  without  being  starved  or  frozen,  by 
doing  some  errands  and  such  things  for 
our  neighbors.  Even  after  we  grad- 
ually aged,  when  we  searched  after 
work,  we  helped  each  other,  trying  not 
to  be  separated  as  long  as  possible. 

"It  was  the  autumn  of  the  last  year. 
I  and  my  brother  were  employed  at  a 
weaving  establishment  at  Nishijin  do- 
ing a  work  which  is  called  Karabuki,  or 
the  dryer.  Meanwhile  my  brother  has 
fallen  sick  so  that  he  could  not  work 
any  more.  At  that  time  we  were  living 
in  a  place  like  a  temporary  barn  at 
Kitayama  and  were  going  to  the  weav- 
er's by  crossing  the  bridge  on  the  Kam- 
iya  river.  When,  in  the  evening,  I  came 
home  with  the  food  and  the  other  things, 
my  brother  was  waiting  for  me  and  al- 
ways said  that  he  must  not  let  me  work 

alone. 

23 


PAULOWNIA 


"One  day  I  came  home  as  usual, 
without  any  anxiety,  and  I  found  my 
brother  lying  on  the  bed  with  the  face 
downward,  and  there  was  blood  all 
around  him.  I  was  surprised,  and 
throwing  off  the  bamboo  sheath  pack- 
ages of  food  and  other  things  I  ap- 
proached him,  saying:  'What  is  the 
matter !  What  is  the  matter !'  Then  my 
brother  lifted  up  his  death-pale  face 
which  was  dyed  with  blood  from  cheeks 
to  chin,  and  saw  me,  but  could  not 
speak.  Only  a  hissing  sound  came  out 
from  the  wound  each  time  he  breathed. 
As  I  could  not  understand  this  at  all, 
I  tried  to  go  nearer  to  him,  saying: 
'Say,  what  is  the  matter  with  you?  Did 
you  vomit  the  blood?'  My  brother 
raised  up  his  body  a  bit,  sustained  by 
his  right  hand  on  the  bed,  and  his  left 
hand  was  clutching  firmly  a  spot  under 
24 


TAKASE  BUNE 


the  chin,  from  which  a  clump  of  the 
dark  blood  was  flowing  between  the 
fingers.  Speaking  to  me  with  his  eyes, 
not  to  come  nearer,  he  opened  his 
mouth.  At  last  he  was  able  to  speak 
some  words.  'Pardon,  please,'  he  said, 
'as  I  thought  this  an  incurable  disease 
I  decided  to  quicken  my  death  to  give 
my  brother  a  little  of  ease.  I  thought  I 
could  die  if  I  cut  the  wind-pipe,  but 
only  the  breath  came  out.  I  tried  to 
thrust  deeper,  deeper,  and  it  slipped 
aside.  It  seems  that  the  blade  was  not 
broken.  I  may  be  able  to  die  if  you  take 
this  out.  It  is  so  hard  to  speak.  Help 
me,  please.  Take  it  out.' 

"When  my  brother  loosened  the  hand 
the  breath  came  out  again  from  the 
wound.  My  voice  was  choked  so  that  I 
could  not  speak,  and  silently  I  looked 
at  the  throat  of  my  brother.  It  seemed 
25 


PAULOWNIA 


to  me  that  he  had  cut  across  the  wind- 
pipe, but  as  he  could  not  die  by  that,  he 
had  thrust  the  razor  into  the  throat  as 
if  to  gouge  it.  I  saw  about  two  inches 
of  the  razor's  handle.  Thus  far  I 
looked,  but  did  not  know  what  to  do. 
I  only  gazed  at  the  face  of  my  brother. 
My  brother  was  also  gazing  at  me. 

"  'Wait,'  I  said  at  last,  'I  will  run 
for  a  doctor.'  Then  my  brother  looked 
into  my  face  with  resentful  eyes,  and, 
clutching  again  the  throat  firmly  with 
his  left  hand,  he  said:  'What  can  the 
doctor  do?  Ah!  it  is  painful!  Quick, 
take  it  out.  I  entreat  you.'  Feeling  at 
a  loss,  I  was  still  looking  at  the  face  of 
my  brother.  It  is  strange  that  the  eyes 
speak  in  such  a  time.  My  brother's 
eyes  urged:  'Do  it  quick,  quick,'  gaz- 
ing at  me  with  such  a  resentful  look. 

"I  felt  that  the  inside  of  my  head  was 
26 


TAKASE  BUNE 


turning  around  like  a  wheel,  but  the 
eyes  of  my  brother  did  not  cease  that 
dreadful  urging.  Moreover,  the  re- 
sentfulness  of  his  eyes  grew  sharper  and 
sharper,  until  they  became  such  fierce 
eyes  as  those  that  glare  at  the  face  of 
an  enemy.  Looking  at  this,  I  felt  that 
I  must  do  as  he  asked,  and  I  said:  'It 
cannot  be  helped.  I  will  take  it  out.' 
Instantly  the  expression  of  my  broth- 
er's eyes  changed,  and  he  looked  so 
serene  and  happy.  I  thought  I  must  do 
it  in  one  movement,  so  I  bent  my  body 
forward  just  as  I  was  kneeling.  My 
brother  let  go  his  right  hand  with  which 
he  was  sustaining  himself,  and  helped 
by  the  hand  which  had  clutched  the 
throat.  Firmly  I  caught  the  handle  of 
the  razor  and  drew  it  out. 

"Just  at  that  moment  I  saw,  opening 
the   front  door  which   I   closed   from 
27 


PAULOWNIA 


the  inside,  an  old  woman  entering 
the  house.  She  was  the  old  woman 
whom  I  employed  to  attend  to  my 
brother  while  I  am  away,  to  help  him  to 
drink  medicine  and  to  do  other  such 
things.  As  it  was  already  dark  in  the 
house,  I  do  not  know  how  much  she  had 
seen  there.  Crying,  'Alas !'  she  ran  out, 
leaving  the  door  opened. 

"When  I  drew  out  the  razor  I  took 
care  to  draw  it  quickly  and  straightly. 
But  the  unsteadiness  of  my  hand  was 
such  that  I  cut  some  part  which  was  not 
cut  before.  As  the  blade  was  facing  to 
the  outside,  it  may  have  been  that  a  part 
on  that  side  was  cut.  With  razor 
clasped  in  my  hand,  vacantly  I  was 
looking  at  the  old  woman,  coming  in 
and  running  out.  It  was  after  she  went 
away  that  I  was  awakened  to  myself, 
and  looked  at  my  brother,  who  was  al- 
28 


TAKASE  BUNE 


ready  dead.  A  great  deal  of  blood  was 
flowing  from  the  wound.  Thus  I  re- 
mained gazing,  with  the  razor  beside 
me,  at  the  face  of  my  brother,  dead  with 
half -opened  eyes,  until  the  senators  of 
the  town  came  and  took  me  to  the  office." 

When  he  had  said  this,  Kisuke,  who 
told  his  story  looking  up  to  Shobei's 
face,  dropped  his  eyes. 

The  story  of  Kisuke  was  quite  log- 
ical. It  may  be  almost  well  to  say  that 
it  was  too  logical.  This  came  about  be- 
cause he  had  reflected  on  the  affair 
many  times  during  about  half  a  year, 
and  because  he  had  to  rehearse  it  each 
time  when  he  was  required  at  the  city 
office,  or  before  the  court  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Listening  to  him,  Shobei  felt  as  if  he 
was  looking  at  the  very  scene.  But, 
when  the  story  was  half  told,  a  doubt 
29 


PAULOWNIA 


was  raised  in  his  mind.  Was  this  really 
a  fratricide?  He  could  not  answer  the 
question  even  when  he  heard  all  of  the 
story.  The  brother  had  asked  him  to 
draw  out  the  razor  because  he  thought 
that  he  would  be  able  to  die  if  it  was 
drawn.  So  he  drew  it  and  let  him  die, 
which  may  be  considered  as  a  murder. 
But  it  seemed  to  Shobei  that  the 
brother  had  to  die  even  if  he  was  left 
in  that  condition.  The  reason  that  he 
wanted  to  die  sooner  was  that  he  could 
not  bear  the  anguish.  Kisuke  could  not 
bear  to  see  it,  and,  intending  to  save 
him  from  that  anguish,  he  cut  short  the 
life  of  his  brother.  Is  this  a  crime? 
Undoubtedly,  the  fact  that  he  killed  him 
is  a  crime.  But  the  doubt  came  here, 
where  Shobei  thought  that  it  was  done 
to  save  anguish.  He  could  not  solve  it 
by  any  means. 

30 


TAKASE  BUNE 


After  much  reflection,   there   came 
\ 

into  Shobei's  mind  a  desire  to  put  the 
burden  upon  someone  who  was  supe- 
rior to  him;  it  was  the  desire  to  follow 
authority.  Shobei  wished  to  make  the 
judgment  of  the  Honorable  Magis- 
trate like  his  own.  But  even  when  he 
desired  this,  there  was  something  in  his 
mind  which  he  could  not  understand, 
but  somehow  he  wanted  to  ask  the 
Honorable  Magistrate  about  it. 

In  the  gloomy  night,  that  declined 
hour  after  hour,  Takase  bune,  loaded 
with  two  silent  men,  glided  along  upon 
the  surface  of  the  dark  water. 


31 


HANAKO 


HANAKO 

By  MORI  OGWAI 

\  UGUSTE  RODIN  came  into  the 
*•  **  studio. 

The  spacious  room  was  filled  with 
sunshine.  This  Hotel  Biron  was  a  lux- 
urious building,  originally  erected  by  a 
certain  rich  man,  but  later  on  it  be- 
came a  convent  of  the  school  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  and  remained  so,  until  a 
short  time  ago.  Perhaps  in  this  very 
room  the  nuns  of  the  Sacre  Coeur  called 
together  the  girls  of  the  Faubourg 
Saint  Germain  and  taught  them  their 
hymns.  Just  as  the  little  birds  cry  out 
on  seeing  from  their  nest  the  mother  ap- 
35 


PAULOWNIA 


preaching,  so  the  little  girls,  standing  in 
rows  and  opening  their  mouths,  may 
have  sung. 

Those  cheerful  voices  no  longer  may 
be  heard. 

But  another  sort  of  cheerfulness  is 
reigning  in  this  room,  a  different  life  is 
dominating.  It  is  a  voiceless  life,  but 
though  voiceless,  it  is  magnificent,  pul- 
sating and  cultured. 

There  were  several  lumps  of  gypsum 
on  each  of  several  tables.  The  master 
is  accustomed  to  begin  several  works  at 
a  time,  and  to  work  on  them  intermit- 
tently, according  to  his  mood,  until 
complete.  As  various  plants  bloom  at 
the  same  time,  so  certain  of  his  works 
grow,  like  things  in  nature,  some  rap- 
idly, some  slowly.  This  man  has  a  tre- 
mendous perception  of  form.  His 
works  are  growing  before  his  hands 
36 


HANARO 

touch  them.  This  man  has  a  tre- 
mendous power  of  concentration.  The 
moment  he  begins  a  work  he  is  able 
to  assume  the  attitude  of  continu- 
ing a  work  begun  some  hours  be- 
fore. 

With  bright  face  Rodin  looked  over 
the  numerous  half-completed  works; 
that  face  with  a  broad  forehead,  a  nose 
that  seemed  to  have  a  joint  in  the  mid- 
dle ;  a  white,  ample  beard  that  crowded 
about  the  chin. 

There  were  knocks  at  the  door. 

"Entrez." 

A  deep,  powerful  voice,  unlike  that 
of  an  old  man,  vibrated  through  the  air 
of  the  room.  The  man  who  entered  the 
door  was  a  lean  fellow  of  about  thirty 
years  of  age,  with  dark  brown  hair,  and 
a  Jewish  cast  of  countenance. 

He  announced  that  he  was  bringing 
37 


PAULOWNIA 


Mademoiselle  Hanako  as  he  had  prom- 
ised. 

Rodin  did  not  change  his  appearance 
either  when  he  saw  the  man  entering 
or  when  he  heard  the  words. 

Once  when  a  chieftain  from  Cam- 
bodia was  staying  in  Paris,  Rodin  saw 
a  dancer  whom  this  chieftain  had 
brought,  and  he  felt  a  kind  of  attrac- 
tion for  the  flexible  movements  of  her 
long  slender  limbs.  The  dessins  taken 
in  haste  are  still  in  his  possession. 
Rodin — believing,  as  in  that  case,  that 
every  person  has  something  of  beauty 
— a  beauty  to  one  who  discovers  the 
point — had  heard  that  a  Japanese  girl 
called  Hanako,  had  been  on  the  stage  at 
the  Variete,  for  several  days.  Through 
a  mediator  he  asked  the  man  who  had 
charge  of  Hanako  to  bring  her  to  his 
house. 

38 


HANARO 

The  man  who  had  come  was  the  man- 
ager, the  impresario. 

"Let  her  come  hither,"  Rodin  said. 

It  was  not  merely  from  lack  of  time 
that  he  neglected  to  show  him  to  a  chair. 

"I  have  brought  an  interpreter  with 
us,"  the  man  said,  as  if  to  learn  his 
humor. 

"Who  is  he?    Is  he  a  Frenchman?" 

"No,  a  Japanese  who  works  at  L'ln- 
stitut  Pasteur.  He  heard  from  Hanako 
that  she  was  called  to  you,  and  desired 
to  come  as  interpreter." 

"All  right.    Let  him  enter  also." 

Instantly,  two  Japanese,  a  man  and  a 
woman,  entered  the  room.  Both  of 
them  looked  peculiarly  small.  The 
manager,  who  followed  and  closed  the 
door,  was  not  a  tall  man,  but  the  two 
Japanese  reached  only  to  his  ears. 

Rodin's  face  wrinkled  about  the  eyes, 
39 


PAULOWNIA 


the  wrinkles  which  seem  to  be  carved 
at  the  inner  corner,  when  he  looks  at 
things  intently.  The  wrinkles  showed 
at  this  time.  His  gaze  moved  from  the 
student  to  Hanako,  and  stayed  there 
for  a  while.  The  student  saluted,  and 
grasped  the  right  hand  Rodin  offered, 
the  hand  on  which  each  sinew  stood  on 
the  surface,  the  hand  that  had  created 
La  Danaide,  Le  Bcdser,  and  Le  Pen- 
seur.  And,  taking  out  a  card  on  which 
Kubota,  M.  P.,  was  written,  he  deliv- 
ered it  to  Rodin. 

Rodin    glanced    at    the    card,    and 
said : 

"Are  you  working  at  L'lnstitut  Pas- 
teur?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Have    you    been    there    for    some 
time?" 

"Avez-vous  bien  travailU?" 
40 


HANAKO 

Kubota  was  surprised.  He  had  been 
told  that  Rodin  says  this  as  a  habit. 
Now,  these  simple  words  were  spoken 
directly  to  him. 

"Oui,  beaucoup,  monsieur!" 

At  the  moment  he  said  this,  Kubota 
felt  as  if  he  were  swearing  to  be  diligent 
for  life. 

Kubota  introduced  Hanako.  Rodin 
looked  down  as  if  to  comprehend  her 
with  a  glance  of  the  eye,  and  he  saw 
the  small,  trim  body  of  Hanako  from 
the  unbecomingly  dressed  hair  of  Taka- 
shimada,  to  the  tips  of  her  feet  in  white 
Tabi  and  in  Chiyoda  sandals,  and  he 
reached  forth  and  took  the  tiny  but  ro- 
bust hand. 

Kubota  could  not  but  feel  in  his  mind 

a  sort  of  humility.    He  wished  that  he 

had  a  finer  person  to  introduce  to  Rodin 

as  a  Japanese  woman.    His  feeling  was 

41 


PAULOWNIA 


not  unreasonable,  for  Hanako  was  not 
a  beauty.  She  had  appeared  in  the 
European  cities  as  a  Japanese  actress, 
but  the  Japanese  themselves  knew 
nothing  of  such  an  actress.  Of  course, 
Kubota  also  knew  nothing  about  her. 
Moreover,  the  actress  was  not  a  beauty. 
It  might  be  too  severe  to  call  her  a  serv- 
ant. She  did  not  seem  to  have  worked 
especially  hard,  for  her  hands  and  feet 
were  not  hardened.  But  even  at  her 
bloom  of  seventeen,  her  appearance 
would  hardly  rank  her  as  a  chamber- 
maid. In  a  word,  she  was  not  more 
presentable  than  a  nursery  maid. 

Unexpectedly,  Rodin's  face  showed  a 
glow  of  satisfaction.  He  was  pleased 
with  Hanako;  healthy,  with  no  sign  of 
indulgence  in  leisure;  with  firm,  elastic 
flesh,  well-developed  by  proper  exer- 
cise— characteristics  that  were  vividly 
42 


HANAKO 

shown  in  the  face,  short  from  forehead 
to  chin,  in  the  bare  wrists  and  gloveless 
hands,  and  in  the  thin  skin  which  showed 
not  a  particle  of  fat. 

Hanako,  who  was  already  accus- 
tomed to  European  manners,  took  the 
hand  of  Rodin  with  an  amiable  smile  on 
her  face. 

Rodin  offered  chairs  to  both  of  them, 
and  said  to  the  manager: 

"Please  wait  for  us  a  while  in  the 
parlor.'* 

After  the  manager  was  gone,  they  sat 
down. 

Offering  the  uncovered  box  of  cigars 
to  Kubota,  Rodin  said  to  Hanako: 

"Are  there  any  mountains  or  sea  at 
Mademoiselle's  home?'* 

Hanako,  as  is  common  among  the 
women  in  such  a  profession,  had  a  regu- 
lar stereotyped  story  of  her  life,  which 
43 


PAULOWNIA 


she  told  to  persons  whenever  she  was 
questioned.  Just  as  in  the  case  of  the 
little  girl  in  Zola's  "Lourdes,"  who  re- 
lates the  miracle  of  the  recovery  of  her 
injured  feet  in  the  train,  her  story  be- 
came, through  frequent  repetition,  like 
the  composition  of  the  routine  story- 
teller. Fortunately,  the  unexpected 
question  of  Rodin  upset  this  ready- 
made  plan. 

"The  mountain  is  at  a  distance.    The 
sea  is  close  by." 

The  answer  pleased  Rodin. 

"Did  you  ride  on  junks  frequently?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Did  you  row  yourself?" 

"No,  sir.    I  did  not  row  as  I  was  still 
small.    My  father  rowed." 

A  picture  came  into  Rodin's  imagi- 
nation, and  he  became  silent  for  a  while. 
Rodin  is  a  man  who  is  often  silent. 
44 


HANARO 

Rodin  said  abruptly  to  Kubota: 

"I  presume  Mademoiselle  is  ac- 
quainted with  my  profession.  Would 
she  be  willing  to  remove  her  cloth- 
ing?" 

Kubota  reflected  a  moment.  Of 
course  he  did  not  wish  to  be  instru- 
mental in  causing  a  woman  of  his  own 
country  to  bare  herself  before  another 
man,  but  he  did  not  object  to  daring  it 
for  Rodin.  There  was  no  need  on  his 
part  for  reflection;  his  hesitation  was 
due  to  the  doubt  as  to  what  Hanako 
would  say. 

"Anyway,  I  will  speak  to  her." 

"If  you  please." 

Kubota  addressed  Hanako  in  this 
manner. 

"The  master  has  something  to  con- 
sult you  about.  I  think  you  under- 
stand that  he  is  the  peerless  sculptor  of 
45 


PAULOWNIA 


the  world,  and  models  the  shape  of  the 
human  body.  This  is  the  point  about 
which  he  wishes  to  consult  you.  He 
wishes  to  know  if  you  will  oblige  him 
by  posing  to  him  in  the  nude  for  a  few 
moments.  What  do  you  say?  As  you 
see,  he  is  an  elderly  man,  not  far  from 
seventy ;  moreover,  he  is  such  a  fine  gen- 
tleman. What  do  you  think?" 

Thus  saying,  Kubota  looked  atten- 
tively into  Hanako's  face.  He  was 
wondering  whether  she  would  be  over- 
come with  shame,  or  affect  airs,  or 
blame  him. 

"I  will,"  she  replied  frankly  and 
naively. 

"She  consents,"  Kubota  told  Rodin. 

Rodin's  face  shone  with  pleasure,  and 
rising  up  from  the  chair,  he  took  out 
paper  and  chalk,  and  said  to  Kubota  as 
he  laid  them  on  the  table: 
46 


HANARO 

"Will  you  stay  here?" 

"The  same  thing  is  sometimes  neces- 
sary in  my  profession,"  said  Kubota, 
"but  it  might  be  unpleasant  to  Made- 
moiselle." 

"Then,  will  you  wait  there  in  the  li- 
brary? I  shall  be  through  within  fif- 
teen or  twenty  minutes.  Light  a  cigar, 
if  you  like." 

"He  says  he  will  be  through  within 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes."  Saying 
these  words  to  Hanako,  Kubota  went 
out  through  the  door  shown  him. 

The  small  chamber  into  which  Ku- 
bota stepped,  had  entrances  on  either 
side,  and  only  one  window.  Book- 
cases were  on  the  wall  opposite  the  win- 
dow, and  on  the  other  walls  that  con- 
stituted its  wings. 

Kubota  stood  a  while  reading  the 
47 


PAULOWNIA 


titles  on  the  leather  bindings  of  the 
books.  This  was  a  collection  which  had 
been  assembled  rather  by  chance  than 
by  intention.  Rodin  was  by  nature  a 
book  lover,  and  it  is  said  that  he  was 
always  carrying  a  book  in  his  hand  even 
in  his  young  days  of  misery,  when  he 
was  roaming  the  streets  of  Brussels. 
Among  the  old  dusty  books  there  must 
be  some  of  varied  memories  and 
brought  here  with  purpose. 

As  the  ashes  of  his  cigar  were  about 
to  fall,  Kubota  walked  toward  the 
table  and  dropped  the  ashes  in  the  re- 
ceiver. 

And,  wondering  what  were  the 
books  on  the  table,  he  took  them  up 
to  see. 

On  the  furtherest  edge  of  the  table, 
leaning  against  the  window,  was  a  book 
which  Kubota  took  to  be  the  Bible,  but, 
48 


HANAKO 

on  opening  it,  he  found  that  it  was  the 
edition  de  poche  of  the  "Divinna 
Comedia."  The  book  aslant  was  one 
of  the  works  of  Baudelaire. 

Without  any  idea  of  reading,  he 
opened  the  first  page,  on  which  there 
was  a  treatise  entitled  "The  Meta- 
physics of  the  Toy,"  and,  wondering 
what  was  in  it,  he  all  at  once  began  to 
read. 

The  treatise  opened  with  this  mem- 
ory, that  when  Baudelaire  was  a  little 
boy  he  was  taken  to  a  certain  demoiselle 
who  had  a  room  full  of  toys,  and  told 
he  might  have  his  choice.  After  a  child 
has  played  with  a  toy  for  a  while,  he  is 
possessed  to  break  it.  He  wonders 
what  there  is  beyond  the  thing.  If  it  be 
a  moving  toy,  he  wishes  to  search  after 
the  origin  of  the  impulse.  Hence  the 
child  goes  from  Physique  to  Meta- 
49 


PAULOWNIA 


physique,  from  science  to  metaphysics. 
As  it  was  only  four  or  five  pages, 
Kubota,     becoming     interested,     read 
through  to  the  end. 

Then  there  was  a  knock;  the  door 
opened  and  Rodin's  white-haired  head 
peeped  through. 

"Pardon  me.    You  must  be  tired." 
"No,  sir,  I  was  reading  Baudelaire." 
Saying   thus,    Kubota    entered   the 
studio.     Hanako  was  already  dressed. 
Two  esquisses  were  lying  on  the  table. 

"What  of  Baudelaire  were  you  read- 
ing?" 

"  'The  Metaphysics  of  the  Toy.'  " 
"The  same  idea  pertains  to  the  human 
body,  that  the  form  is  not  interesting 
simply  because  it  is  a  form.     It  is  a 
mirror  of  the  soul.     The  inner  flame, 
showing    transparently    through    the 
form,  alone  is  interesting." 
50 


HANAKO 


When  Kubota  looked  timidly  at  the 
esquisseSj  Rodin  said: 

"They  must  be  hard  to  understand, 
as  they  are  so  rough." 

He  continued  after  a  moment: 

"Mademoiselle  has  an  exceedingly 
beautiful  body.  She  has  not  a  particle 
of  fat.  Each  muscle  rises  on  the  sur- 
face like  the  muscle  of  a  fox  terrier.  As 
the  fibers  are  tight  and  thick,  the  size 
of  the  joints  is  made  the  same  as  the 
size  of  the  limbs.  They  are  so  firm  that 
she  could  stand  on  one  leg  while  the 
other  is  stretched  at  a  right  angle,  like  a 
tree  that  has  its  roots  thrust  deep  in 
the  earth.  This  is  different  from  the 
Mediterranean  type  with  broad  shoul- 
ders and  loins,  and  does  not  resemble 
the  North  European  type  with  broad 
loins,  but  narrow  shoulders*  It  is  the 
beauty  of  strength." 
51 


THE  PIER 


THE  PIER 
By  MORI  OGWAI 


pier  is  long  —  leng  - 
The  rails  of  four  railroads  cut 
straight  and  obliquely  the  beams  of  the 
iron  bridge  on  which  the  long  and  short 
cross-beams  are  like  the  bars  of  a  xylo- 
phone on  which  children  play.  Through 
the  cracks  of  the  cross-beams,  that  al- 
most catch  the  heels  of  shoes  and 
wooden  clogs,  here  and  there  the  black 
waves  are  shown,  reflected  on  the  white 
flashes  of  sunshine. 

The  sky  has  cleared  into  a  deep  blue. 
On  the  inside  of  the  train  where  she 
was  sitting  with  her  husband  starting 
55 


PAULOWNIA 


to-day,  she  did  not  think  the  wind  was 
blowing. 

When  leaving  the  jinrikisha,  in  which 
she  rode  from  the  station  of  Yoko- 
hama, and  standing  on  this  pier,  she 
found  that  the  wind  of  the  fifth  of 
March  was  still  blowing  as  if  to  bite 
the  skin,  fluttering  the  skirts  of  the 
Azuma  coat. 

It  is  the  Azuma  coat  in  silver  gray, 
which  she  loosely  wears  on  her  body, 
that  carries  the  child  of  her  husband, 
who  is  starting  to-day,  this  day  which 
is  not  far  from  the  month  of  confine- 
ment. 

She  came  with  her  hair  in  Sokuhatsu. 
Her  boa  is  of  white  ostrich.  Holding 
the  light  green  umbrella  with  tassels, 
she  walks  along,  surrounded  by  four  or 
five  maidservants. 

* 

The  pier  is  long — long — — 
56 


THE  PIER 


The  big  ships  are  anchoring  on  the 
right  and  the  left  of  the  pier.  Some  are 
painted  in  black,  some  in  white. 

The  anchored  ships  are  making  a 
fence  for  the  wind.  Every  time  she 
leaves  the  place  where  there  are  ships, 
a  gust  of  wind  blows  and  flutters  the 
skirts  of  her  Azuma  coat. 

Two  years  ago,  immediately  after  he 
was  graduated  from  the  university  of 
literature,  the  count,  her  husband,  had 
married  her.  It  was  during  the  previ- 
ous year  that  she  gave  birth  to  her  first 
child,  a  princess  like  a  jewel.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  the  husband  became  a 
Master  of  Ceremonies  at  the  Court. 
And,  now,  he  is  starting  to  London, 
charged  with  his  official  duty. 

In  his  newly  made  gray  overcoat, 
flinging  the  cane  with  crooked  handle, 
her  husband  is  walking  rapidly  along 
57 


PAULOWNIA 


the  pier.  The  viscount,  who  is  going 
with  him,  and  whose  height  is  taller  by 
a  head  than  his,  also  walks  rapidly  be- 
side him,  clad  in  a  suit  of  similar  color. 

The  French  ship,  on  which  her  hus- 
band is  about  to  go  abroad,  is  anchor- 
ing at  the  extreme  end  of  the  right  side 
of  the  pier. 

A  stool,  like  that  which  is  used  to 
repair  the  wires  of  a  trolley,  is  stationed 
on  the  pier,  and  from  it  a  gangplank  is 
laid  across  to  the  bulwark. 

While  walking  slowly,  she  sees  her 
husband  and  the  viscount,  his  compan- 
ion, crossing  the  gangplank  and  enter- 
ing the  ship. 

The  group  of  people  looking  after 
them  are  standing,  here  and  there,  on 
the  pier.  Almost  all  of  them  are  those 
who  came  to  bid  adieu  to  her  husband 
and  the  viscount.  Perhaps  there  are  no 
58 


THE  PIER 


other  passengers  on  this  ship  about  to 
sail  who  are  so  important  and  are 
looked  at  by  so  many  people. 

Some  of  them  are  going  to  the  foot  of 
the  stool  on  which  the  gangplank  is  laid, 
and  stop  there  to  wait  for  their  com- 
panions. Some  of  them  are  standing  at 
the  place,  a  bit  before  the  stool,  where 
the  blocks  and  ropes  are  laid  down. 

Among  these  people  there  must  be 
some  who  are  intimately  known  to  her 
husband,  and  some  who  know  him  but 
slightly.  But,  standing  under  this  clear 
sky,  they  all  seem  dejected;  or  is  it  only 
her  fancy? 

The  pier  is  long — long 

Following  slowly  after  them,  uncon- 
sciously she  looks  off  to  her  right  where 
there  were  many  round  windows  on  the 
side  of  the  ship.  The  faces  and  chests 
of  women  are  seen  from  one  of  those 
59 


PAULOWNIA 


round  windows.  Three  of  them  are 
from  thirty  to  forty  years  of  age;  all 
with  white  aprons  on  their  chests.  They 
must  be  the  waitresses  of  the  ship.  Sup- 
posing them  to  be  the  waitresses  who 
wait  on  the  passengers  of  the  ship,  on 
which  her  husband  is  on  board,  she  feels 
envious  of  even  those  humble  women. 

There  is  also  a  woman  at  the  bul- 
wark, looking  down  on  the  pier,  who 
wears  a  big  bonnet  with  white  cloth  and 
carries  a  small  leather  bag  in  her  hand. 
Two  big  eyes,  as  if  painted  with  shad- 
ows, are  shining  on  her  wrinkled  face 
above  the  large  nose,  like  a  hook.  She 
looks  like  a  Jewess.  She  also  must  be 
a  traveler  who  is  going  on  this  ship. 
She  is  also  envious  of  her. 

The  pier  is  long — long 

At  last  she  arrives  at  the  foot  of  the 
gangplank.    Cautiously  she  carries  her 
60 


THE  PIER 


body,  which  has  the  second  infant  of  her 
husband  under  the  Azuma  coat,  and 
descends  on  the  deck  of  the  big,  black- 
painted  ship.  She  hands  the  umbrella 
to  a  maidservant. 

Led  by  the  people  who  have  come  to 
say  farewell  and  were  already  on  board, 
she  goes  back  along  the  bulwark  toward 
the  prow.  There  are  rooms  for  pas- 
sengers at  the  end  of  the  way,  the  num- 
bers of  which  increase  from  twenty- 
seven  to  twenty-nine. 

The  viscount  is  standing  at  the  en- 
trance and  addresses  her. 

"This  is  the  room,  madam." 

Peeping  into  the  room  she  finds  two 
beds,  under  which  the  familiar  packages 
and  trunks  are  deposited.  Her  hus- 
band is  standing  before  one  of  the  beds. 

"Look  it  through,  madam.    It  is  like 

this.'* 

61 


PAULOWNIA 


This  is  the  room;  she  must  look 
through  it  carefully.  During  the  long, 
long  voyage  of  her  husband,  this  is  the 
room  where  her  dreams  must  come  and 
go. 

A  man,  who  looks  like  the  captain, 
comes,  and,  addressing  her  husband  in 
French,  guides  him  to  the  saloon  of  the 
ship.  She  follows  her  husband  and  the 
viscount  and  enters  the  room. 

This  is  a  spacious  and  beautiful  saloon. 
Several  tables  are  arranged,  each  bear- 
ing a  flower  basket.  .  .  .  Gradually  the 
people  who  came  to  say  farewell  gather 
into  the  room. 

By  the  order  of  this  man,  who  looks 
like  the  captain,  a  waiter  brings  forth 
many  cups  in  the  shape  of  morning- 
glories,  and,  pouring  champagne  into 
them,  he  distributes  them  among  the 
people.  Another  waiter  brings  cakes, 
62 


THE  PIER 


like  those  which  are  brought  with  ice 
cream,  piled  on  a  plate  in  the  form  of 
the  well  crib,  and  distributes  them 
among  the  people. 

The  people  who  received  the  cups  go 
one  after  another,  and  stand  before  her 
husband  and  the  viscount,  wishing  them 
a  happy  voyage,  and  drink  from  the 
cups. 

Sitting  on  a  small  chair  beside  the 
table,  she  is  waiting  for  the  time  when 
the  congratulations  are  at  the  end. 
During  his  busy  moments,  now  and 
then,  her  husband  lifts  his  eyes  to  her. 

However,  there  is  no  more  to  be  said 
to  her  before  many  people.  Also,  there 
is  no  more  to  be  said  to  him,  before 
many  people. 

The  bell  rings.  Having  bidden  fare- 
well to  her  husband  and  to  the  viscount 
the  people  are  going  out,  one  after  an- 
63 


PAULOWNIA 


other.  She  also  follows  them,  saluting 
her  husband  and  the  viscount. 

Again  crossing  the  dangerous  gang- 
plank, she  descends  to  the  pier.  She 
received  the  light  green  umbrella  from 
the  hand  of  her  maidservant,  and  raises 
it. 

Her  husband  and  the  viscount  are 
standing  on  the  bulwark,  looking  in 
her  direction.  She  is  looking  up  at 
them  from  under  her  umbrella.  She 
feels  that  her  eyes,  as  she  looks  up, 
are  growing  gradually  larger  and 
larger. 

Again  the  bell  rings.  A  few  French 
sailors  begin  to  untie  the  rope  from  the 
gangplank.  A  Japanese  laborer  in 
Hanten  is  standing  on  the  stool  like  that 
which  is  used  in  repairing  the  trolley, 
preparing  to  draw  down  the  gangplank. 
Hanging  on  the  rope  of  the  wheel, 
64 


THE  PIER 


pulled  by  the  man  in  Hanten,  the  gang- 
plank at  last  leaves  the  bulwark. 

The  noon-gun  of  the  city  of  Yoko- 
hama resounds.  With  this  as  a  signal, 
the  ship,  from  the  hold  of  which  for 
some  time  a  noise  has  been  issuing,  si- 
lently begins  to  move. 

The  elderly  Europeans,  who  seem  to 
be  a  married  couple,  are  standing  at  the 
bulwark.  They  are  talking  about  some- 
thing of  a  jolly  nature  with  a  white- 
haired  old  man  who  is  standing  on  the 
pier,  with  one  of  his  feet  placed  on  an 
apparatus,  to  roll  the  ropes,  which 
looks  like  a  big  bobbin.  They  do  not 
seem  to  regret  the  parting. 

It  looks  as  if  the  ship  is  moving.  It 
looks  as  if  the  pier  is  moving.  There 
seems  to  be  the  distance  of  a  Pallaraxe 
between  the  place  where  her  husband 
and  the  viscount  are  standing  and  the 
65 


PAULOWNIA 


place  where  she  is  standing.  She  feels 
her  eyes  growing  larger  and  larger. 

Some  of  the  people  who  are  looking 
after  them  are  running  to  the  end  of  the 
pier.  She  cannot  do  such  an  immodest 
thing.  Suddenly  something  white 
waves  at  the  bulwark.  It  was  a  hand- 
kerchief waved  by  the  hand  of  a  woman 
who  wears  a  big  bonnet  decorated  with 
a  white  cloth.  A  tall  man  stands  at  the 
end  of  the  pier,  in  red  waistcoat  and 
tan  shoes.  A  white  handkerchief 
waves  also  from  the  hand  of  this  man. 
This  also  must  be  a  parting  in  human 
life. 

These  two  persons  set  the  fashion, 
and  the  handkerchiefs  are  waved  here 
and  there.  White  things  are  waving 
also  from  the  people  who  are  looking 
after  the  group  surrounding  the  count. 
She  also  grasps  the  batiste  handkerchief 
66 


THE  PIER 


which  she  has  brought  in  her  sleeve, 
but  she  cannot  do  such  an  immodest 
thing. 

When  the  ship  seemed  to  have  left 
the  pier,  it  turned  its  prow  a  bit  to  the 
right.  The  place  where  her  husband 
and  the  viscount  were  standing  has  dis- 
appeared at  last. 

Still  she  can  see  a  boy  about  fifteen 
or  sixteen,  standing  at  the  stern,  in  a 
blue,  cold-looking  garment  like  a  blouse. 
What  mother  is  waiting  for  him  in 
France?  Or,  has  he  no  parents?  What 
is  he  looking  at,  standing  by  the  rail  at 
the  stern? 

Slowly  she  turned  her  feet  and 
walked  among  the  maidservants  sur- 
rounding her. 

The  pier  is  long — long 

At  the  place  where  the  black-painted 
ship  was  anchored,  until  a  short  time 
67 


PAULOWNIA 


ago,  the  water  is  glittering  like  the 
scales  of  fish,  as  the  small  ripples  are 
reflecting  the  pale  sunshine. 


68 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 
By  NAGAI  KAFU 


T  NSTANTLY  after  she  got  up  from 
-*•  the  bed  where  she  was  sleeping 
with  Omatsu,  her  companion,  Oyo  put 
on  her  narrow-sleeved  Hanten  as  usual, 
and,  wrapping  her  head  with  a  towel  in 
the  manner  of  the  "sister's  cap,"  she 
began  to  sweep  the  parlor. 

Oyo  is  the  maidservant  in  Kinugawa, 
an  assignation  house. 

As  they  had  guests  in  the  inner  room 
of  Yojohan,  who  had  been  lodging 
there  since  the  evening  before,  Oyo 
wiped  up  every  place  with  the  dust 
cloth  except  that  room,  including  the 
71 


PAULOWNIA 


railings  and  stairways  of  the  first  floor. 
Coming  down  to  the  fireplace  near  the 
counter  she  found  the  mistress,  with 
toothbrush  in  her  mouth,  already  un- 
covering the  charcoal  fire  of  the  previ- 
ous evening.  In  contrast  to  the  dark, 
humid  interior  where  the  odor  of  wine 
seemed  to  drift  from  somewhere,  the 
winter  sunshine  glittering  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  street  and  through  the 
frosted-glass  screen  of  the  front  lattice 
gate,  looked  quite  warm  and  cheerful. 
As  soon  as  the  mistress  saw  Oyo,  who 
was  bidding  her  "Good-morning,"  she 
said  all  at  once : 

"Now,  Oyo,  I  wish  you  would  go 
directly  after  breakfast,  as  the  place  is 
far." 

Being  thus  ordered,  Oyo  took  up  her 
chopsticks  for  breakfast,  eating  before 
Omatsu  and  Otetsu  the  cook.  After 
72 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


having  finished  her  toilet  and  changed 
her  dress,  and  listening  again  to  the  in- 
structions and  messages  from  the  mis- 
tress, she  started.  It  was  almost  seven 
o'clock  when  she  set  out  in  the  new 
wooden  clogs  that  were  given  her  by  the 
regular  geisha  girls  as  a  present  at  the 
end  of  the  last  year,  and  she  heard  the 
voice  of  the  cook-supplier  at  the  kitch- 
en, the  man  who  came  to  get  the  plates 
and  bowls. 

Oyo  went  out  by  the  familiar  short- 
cut through  the  lane  between  the 
houses  of  the  geisha  girls.  Coming  out 
into  the  open  street  of  Ginza,  which  was 
filled  with  sunshine,  she  looked  around 
her  as  though  surprised  at  the  new  ap- 
pearance of  things.  Her  bosom  pul- 
sated to  the  sounds  of  trolleys  passing 
by,  and  she  not  only  felt  that  she  had 
forgotten  all  the  messages  charged  by 
73 


PAULOWNIA 


the  mistress,  but  even  the  route  which 
she  thought  she  had  understood  well 
when  she  left  home.  She  became  con- 
fused, so  that  the  way  seemed  further 
than  she  had  supposed. 

It  had  been  five  years  since  Oyo  en- 
tered service,  in  the  autumn,  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  at  Kinugawa,  the  assigna- 
tion house.  She  had  been  at  Hakone 
and  at  Enoshima,  she  knew  Haneda 
and  the  shrine  of  Narita,  but  it  was 
only  as  an  attendant  of  the  guests  and 
geisha  girls  in  the  great  carousels  of 
many  people  that  she  went  to  these 
places.  Once,  though  she  was  a  woman, 
she  had  walked  alone  through  the  night 
with  two  or  three  hundred  yen  in  cash 
in  her  sash.  But  it  was  not  further 
than  a  few  blocks  where  she  went  to  an 
accustomed  bank  on  behalf  of  the  mis- 
tress. It  was  only  once  or  twice  in  a 
74 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


year  that  she  rode  a  really  long  distance 
by  trolley,  to  visit  her  home  at  Minami- 
Senju  for  holiday. 

To  a  woman  of  down-town  who 
knows  nothing  about  the  suburbs  of  To- 
kyo, except  Fukagawa,  Shinagawa,  and 
Asakusa,  even  to  hear  the  name  of 
Okubo  in  the  uptown  district  where 
Oyo  was  going  to-day  to  collect  the  bill, 
caused  her  to  imagine  a  place  where 
foxes  and  badgers  live.  As  she  also 
felt  fearful  that  she  might  not  be  able 
to  return  home  that  day  if  she  did  not 
catch  the  trolley  as  soon  as  possible,  she 
hurried  to  the  square  of  Owaricho,  not 
even  stopping  at  the  beautiful  show 
windows  of  Matsuya,  and  Mikamiya 
and  Tenshodo. 

"Good-morning,  Maid  Oyo!" 
Suddenly,  being  thus  addressed  from 
the  crowd  which  was  waiting  for  the 
75 


PAULOWNIA 


trolley,  Oyo  turned  back  and  saw  an 
employed  girl  of  Tamaomiya,  who  had 
her  hair  dressed  in  Hisashigami  and 
wore  the  half -coat  of  Koki  silk. 

"Kimi  chan.    Going  to  temple?" 

As  is  a  habit  of  woman,  Oyo  looked 
at  the  hair  and  clothing  of  this  geisha 
girl,  which  was  not  particularly  un- 
usual. 

"No.  I  have  a  patient  at  home," 
Kimi  chan,  the  employed  girl,  said 
apologetically,  as  though  answering  the 
question  of  the  employer.  "Where  are 
you  going?" 

"To  the  place  called  Okubo.  I  was 
told  to  take  the  Shinjuku  line.  Is  this 
the  place  to  wait  for  it?" 

"Shinjuku.  .  .  .  Then  it  is  on  the 
other  side.  You  must  take  the  car  from 
the  other  side  of  the  street." 

"Oh!"  Oyo  cried,  with  such  a  loud 
76 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


voice  that  she  surprised  herself.  And 
as  if  she  could  not  hear  the  formal  salu- 
tation of  the  employed  girl,  "Please 
keep  me  in  mind  again  .  .  ."  she 
crossed  the  square  to  the  other  side  al- 
most in  rapture.  Though  it  was  a  win- 
ter morning  her  forehead  perspired. 
Having  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief  before 
the  glass  door  of  the  Cafe  Lion,  Oyo 
turned  back  with  a  wonder-stricken 
look  to  the  other  side  of  the  street  where 
was  the  clock  on  the  roof  of  the  Hattori 
clock  store,  thinking  that  it  was  a  mar- 
velous thing  that  she  was  not  killed  in 
the  midst  of  the  square  where  so  many 
trolleys  are  crossing.  By  that  time  the 
employed  girl  of  Tama-omiya,  almost 
crushed  among  the  crowds  on  the  con- 
ductor's platform,  went  away  toward 
the  Mihara  bridge,  and  though  many  al- 
most empty  cars  followed  it,  the  only 
77 


PAULOWNIA 


thing  that  passed  the  tracks  where  Oyo 
was  waiting  was  a  lumbering  horse 
truck  loaded  with  casks.  The  sidewalk 
near  to  the  Cafe  Lion  was  so  filled  with 
persons  waiting  for  transfers  that  they 
overflowed  on  to  the  street  pavement. 
Unconsciously,  Oyo  looked  at  the  blue 
sky  of  winter,  calling  to  mind  the  clock 
on  the  roof  of  Hattori's  building,  which 
pointed  to  half-past  eleven.  She  be- 
came so  impatient  that  she  felt  she 
could  not  wait  any  longer.  The  com- 
plaints of  the  persons  who  were  wait- 
ing for  transfers,  speaking  in  loud 
voices,  the  breaking  of  the  wires  or  the 
stoppage  of  the  electric  current,  dis- 
turbed her  as  though  it  were  the  an- 
nouncement of  a  fire  burning  her  house. 
Exhausted  by  waiting,  Oyo,  like  the 
others,  leaned  against  the  glass  door  of 
the  Cafe  and  hung  her  head.  Suddenly 
78 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


becoming  conscious  of  a  commotion, 
Oyo  also  ran  in  order  not  to  be  too  late 
for  the  car,  but,  being  only  a  helpless 
woman,  she  could  hardly  approach  the 
first  car.  Even  the  next  one  she  missed, 
for  a  big  man  of  dark  complexion, 
crossing  in  from  the  side,  had  pushed 
her  away  when  her  foot  was  already  on 
the  step.  Moreover,  her  side  lock  of 
Ichogaeshi  was  rubbed  up  by  the  sleeve 
of  the  double  manteau  with  great  force. 

"Now  I  won't  mind  what  becomes  of 
me.  I  will  wait  even  half  a  day,  or  a 
day,  as  long  as  they  want  me  to  wait." 

Oyo,  who  had  already  become  des- 
perate, purposely  followed  behind  the 
crowd,  to  take  the  next  approaching 
car. 

When  they  came  to  Hibiya  park,  a 
seat  was  left,  so  Oyo  could  at  last  rest 
her  tired  back.  Then  the  inside  of  the 
79 


PAULOWNIA 


car  was  calmer  and  the  streets  outside 
opened  out  and  became  more  quiet,  and 
in  the  warmth  of  the  inside  of  the  car, 
with  the  sun  shining  on  the  back  of  her 
neck  and  shoulders,  she  nodded  involun- 
tarily with  the  light  jolting  of  the  car. 
The  fatigue  of  the  body,  which  has  to 
work  every  night  until  one  o'clock  at 
the  earliest,  pressed  on  her  eyelids  all  at 
once.  As  Oyo  is  the  favorite  servant  of 
the  mistress,  raised  by  her  from  child- 
hood, she  must  help  her  not  only  in  the 
parlor  of  the  guests,  but  also  as  cham- 
bermaid. To  be  made  a  companion  in 
the  late  drinking  of  the  guest  in  her 
busy  time  is  bearable,  but  the  most  dis- 
gusting thing  is  the  troublesome  task 
of  washing  clean,  in  a  hot-water  cup, 
the  whole  set  of  artificial  teeth  of  a  guest 
nearly  sixty  years  of  age,  every  time 

after  his  meal. 

80 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


In  a  short  time  there  were  indi- 
cations of  the  stopping  of  the  car  and 
passengers  coming  and  going,  Oyo 
awakened  all  at  once,  surprised,  and 
looked  out  of  the  window.  She  saw  a 
leafy  tree,  a  high  bank  and  a  low  bridge 
on  the  waterless  moat.  The  conduc- 
tors, enough  to  frighten  her,  were  as- 
sembled in  front  of  the  new  house  at 
the  corner.  Many  empty  cars  were  left 
as  if  they  were  to  be  given  away.  With 
this  sight  of  unfamiliar  streets,  Oyo  felt 
unutterable  helplessness.  She  became 
anxious  about  the  thing  in  her  sash, 
fearing  that  it  had  been  stolen  in  her 
absent-minded  moments.  Also  she 
doubted  whether  this  was  the  place  to 
leave  the  car.  Impatiently  she  moved 
a  bit  from  the  end  and  said : 
"Please,  what  is  this  place?" 
The  high-boned,  flat-faced,  slant- 
81 


PAULOWNIA 


eyed  conductor,  who  seemed  to  perceive 
the  embarrassed  figure  of  Oyo  by  a 
glance,  did  not  move  from  the  plat- 
form. Shrugging  his  shoulders,  as  if 
cold,  and  turning  his  head  to  the  other 
side,  he  pulled  the  bell  so  that  Oyo,  who 
had  left  her  seat,  was  upset  by  the  mov- 
ing car  and  thrown  with  all  the  weight 
of  her  body  on  the  lap  of  a  man  look- 
ing like  a  foreman  of  the  laborers,  who 
was  sitting  near  to  the  entrance.  Feel- 
ing abashed,  Oyo  tried  to  get  up 
quickly;  she  noticed  that  a  big  arm,  as 
heavy  as  iron,  was  laid  on  her  back  as  if 
to  embrace  her  body;  she  struggled  with 
all  her  might. 

"Ehelhelhe!" 

With    the    vile,    frightful    laughter 
there  was  a  smell  of  wine. 

"How  can  I  stand  it  when  I  am  held 
fast  by  a  girl!" 

82 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


"What  good  luck  to  have!"  chanted 
one  of  the  group  that  was  sitting  on  the 
other  side,  and  they  burst  into  laughter. 

Oyo  flushed  like  fire,  and  wished  even 
to  jump  out  of  the  moving  car.  After 
that  she  felt  that  all  the  eyes  in  the  car 
were  looking  constantly  at  her.  Even 
then,  she  had  not  gained  her  composure 
after  the  fright  of  the  moment  when 
she  felt  herself  closely  embraced  by  a 
laborer.  All  at  once  Oyo  became  con- 
scious that  no  one  in  the  car  was  dressed 
like  her — in  Meisen  silk,  with  folds  laid 
somewhat  loose,  gray  Hawori  with  an 
embroidered  crest  on  it,  and  an  apron 
of  Itob'ri  neatly  tied.  All  the  other 
women  were  in  Hisashigami  and  in 
close  folds,  and  most  of  the  men  pas- 
sengers were  soldiers.  Her  helpless- 
ness riding  among  these  unknown  peo- 
ple became  more  keen.  Just  at  the  time 
83 


PAULOWNIA 


when  she  was  about  to  ask  the  con- 
ductor, who  came  to  inspect  the  trans- 
fer tickets,  regarding  the  station  before 
Shinjuku,  her  embarrassment  and 
helplessness  became  all  but  overwhelm- 
ing. 

"This  is  the  Awoyama  line,  Miss.  If 
you  wish  to  go  to  Shinjuku,  there  is  no 
other  way  but  to  transfer  at  Awoyama 
Itchome,  and  again  at  Shiocho." 
Throwing  the  transfer  ticket  on  the  lap 
of  Oyo,  the  conductor  hurried  to  fix  the 
dislocated  pole. 

As  she  had  understood  that  she  could 
go  all  the  way  without  transfering,  Oyo, 
on  hearing  that  she  had  to  transfer  not 
once  but  twice,  felt  as  if  she  was  thrown 
at  last  into  the  labyrinthine  jungle  of 
Yawata. 


THE    BILL-COLLECTING 


II 


After  going  here  and  there,  Oyo  was 
able  at  last  to  realize  that  Tenmacho 
Nichome  was  the  station  before  Shin- 
juku.  How  far  would  the  troubles  of 
the  unknown  route  continue?  Oyo  re- 
gretted that  she  had  come,  and  thought 
that  she  would  never  again  go  on  an 
errand  to  an  unknown  place,  no  matter 
how  she  might  be  scolded.  It  is  far  bet- 
ter to  stay  at  home  with  the  sweeping, 
and  to  dry  the  bed-clothes  or  to  wash 
the  Yukata  to  offer  to  the  guests.  In 
this  broad  street,  more  bustling  than  she 
could  have  expected,  she  could  not  tell 
whether  she  had  to  turn  to  the  right  or 
to  the  left.  Nevertheless,  as  she  could 
not  stand  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  she 
was  thinking  about  paying  her  own 
85 


PAULOWNIA 


money  secretly  to  ride  in  a  Kuruma, 
when  she  saw  a  Kurumaya  from  the 
stand,  and  asked  him  how  much  she 
would  have  to  pay  to  ride  to  Okubo. 

"Give  me  fifty  sen." 

"Don't  fool  me." 

Being  much  provoked,  Oyo  did  not 
even  turn  to  the  Kurumaya,  who  called 
out  something  to  her  from  her  back,  and 
walked  aimlessly  to  a  side  street.  See- 
ing a  little  girl  with  tucks  at  her  shoul- 
ders in  front  of  a  tobacco  shop,  she 
asked  in  an  almost  weeping  tone: 

"Please,  my  girl,  will  you  kindly  let 
me  know  how  to  get  to  Yochomachi  of 
Okubo?" 

"Yochomachi?"  said  the  girl  cheer- 
fully, "Go  straight  this  way,  and  going 
down  a  slope  you  will  find  a  policeman's 
post.  .  .  .  You  had  better  ask  at  the 
policeman's  post." 

86 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


Oyo  felt  revived  for  the  first  time. 
"Thank  you  ever  so  much." 
Putting  an  overwhelming  sentiment 
of  thanks  into  these  simple  words,  Oyo 
walked  away,  looking  curiously  at  the 
sights  on  both  sides  of  the  somewhat 
narrow  street.    There  was  a  European 
building  for  moving  pictures  on  one 
side.    From  the  lane  near  to  the  build- 
ing a  few  geisha  girls  came  out,  laugh- 
ing about   something  in  loud  voices. 
Looking    at    them,    Oyo    wondered: 
"Why  are  there  geisha  girls  in  such  a 
place?"    Suddenly  she  heard  a  tremen- 
dous noise.     Before  she  could  think 
what  was  the  matter,  she  saw  many  sol- 
diers on  horseback  riding  from  the  open 
street  to  this  narrow  side  street.    There 
was  the  gate  of  a  temple  at  one  side  of 
the  beginning  of  the  slope,  and,  taking 
advantage  of  an  open  place,  Oyo  was 
87 


PAULOWNIA 


fortunate  enough  to  get  out  of  the  way. 
She  saw  six  or  seven  men  employed  on 
the  telegraph  wires,  squatting  on  the 
earth,  eating  their  luncheon.  A  bam- 
boo ladder  was  leaned  against  a  wire 
pole  on  the  other  side  of  the  street. 

"Hello!  .The  beauty!" 

Their  teasing  started  Oyo  running 
away  in  embarrassment. 

"We  are  receiving  an  extraordinary 
Benten." 

"Hey,  my  girl!  May  I  offer  you  a 
glass?" 

Some  of  them  were  looking  intently 
at  the  folds  of  her  skirts.  They  could 
not  contain  themselves  any  longer,  when 
a  sudden  wind  had  brushed  aside  the 
skirts  of  her  underclothes.  All  of  them 
burst  in  at  once. 

"Luck  to  see!" 

"It  is  worth  two  yen  at  Sinjuku!" 
88 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


"The  red  clothes  are  said  to  keep 
long!"  And  they  continued  to  say 
things  which  were  unbearable  to  hear. 
But  is  not  the  procession  of  the  soldiers 
endless,  stirring  up  the  sand  on  all 
sides?  And  how  much  Oyo  wished  to 
escape ! 

Oyo  finally  got  away  from  the  place 
and  went  down  the  slope,  almost  run- 
ning, when  she  suddenly  stumbled  on  a 
stone  and  hardly  kept  from  falling.  In 
front  of  it  she  saw  something  that 
looked  like  a  squirming  heap  of  rags, 
which  said: 

"Ladies  and  gentlemen,  passing  by, 
please,  a  penny  .  .  ." 

Two  or  three  leper  beggars,  at  whom 
one  could  not  bear  to  look  a  second  time, 
were  making  bows  on  the  sand  of  the 
street.  The  town  at  the  foot  of  the 
slope  was  visible,  with  the  dirty  roofs 
89 


PAULOWNIA 


in  confusion,  at  the  bottom  of  the  val- 
ley-like lowland.  Oyo  wondered  with- 
out any  reason  whether  the  town  over 
yonder  was  the  outcasts'  quarter. 

Going  down  the  slope  and  turning  to 
the  left  as  she  was  instructed  by  the  girl 
of  the  tobacco  shop  she  easily  found  a 
policeman's  post.  As  a  policeman  who 
looked  good-natured  was  standing  in 
the  middle  of  the  street,  she  asked  him 
her  route. 

"What  number  of  Yochomachi  is  it?" 

"It  is  number  sixty-two.  The  house 
is  Mr.  Inuyama's." 

"Number  sixty-two — then  you  have 
to  go  straight  along  this  way,  and  go  up 
the  slope  before  a  big  wine-shop." 

"I  see." 

"And  let  me  see,  is  it  the  third  side 
street  after  you  go  straight  up  the 
slope?  .  .  .  You  turn  there  to  the  left, 
90 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


where  you  will  find  number  sixty-two." 

"Much  obliged  to  you." 

Before  she  had  gone  less  than  half  a 
block,  she  found  a  wine-shop  that  looked 
like  the  one  she  was  told  about,  and 
also  a  slope,  so  she  thought  rest  of  the 
route  was  quite  short.  Feeling  some- 
what proud  that  she  had  come  this  far 
alone  without  the  Kuruma  or  without 
going  much  out  of  the  way,  she  forgot 
a  while  even  the  fatigue  of  her  legs,  but 
when  she  began  to  go  up  the  slope,  she 
had  to  meet  another  unexpected  trouble. 

Though  the  down-town  district  had 
had  such  continuous  clear  weather  that 
it  was  annoyed  by  the  dust,  the  up-town 
quarter  of  the  city  seemed  to  have  had 
rain  the  night  before  and  the  street, 
which  was  not  broad,  was  so  deep  in 
mud  that  Oyo  could  not  even  find  the 
sidewalk.  By  the  time  she  discovered 
91 


PAULOWNIA 


that  the  mud  was  melting  frost,  which 
had  not  had  time  to  dry,  not  only  the 
toes  of  her  new  wooden  clogs,  but  also 
her  white  socks  newly  washed,  were  all 
splashed  with  mud.  On  one  side  of  the 
road  was  the  bank  covered  with  sepiaria 
and  on  the  other  side  was  a  cryptomeria 
hedge,  where,  taking  advantage  of  the 
fact  that  there  were  no  passers-by,  Oyo 
took  out  her  pocket-papers  and  wiped, 
she  knew  not  how  often,  the  mud  from 
the  mat  lining  of  her  wooden  clogs.  As 
she  glanced  up  she  thought  the  third 
side  street  to  which  she  had  been  di- 
rected by  the  policeman  might  be  the 
corner  she  sought. 


92 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


III 


The  mud  of  the  melting  frost  became 
harder  and  harder.  A  big,  masterless 
dog  was  roaming  about  with  a  menacing 
look.  The  rasping  sounds  of  a  violin 
were  heard.  The  dreary  sigh  of  the 
wind  came  from  the  trees  near  by.  Far 
at  the  end  of  the  side  street  the  ground 
seemed  to  slope  again,  and,  though  the 
winter  sunshine  was  falling  gently  on 
the  roofs  of  the  new  houses  and  on  the 
deep  forest  that  covered  the  rears  of  all 
the  houses,  either  side  of  the  road  was 
dark  in  shade,  and  all  the  houses  were 
surrounded  with  fences  of  four-inch 
boards.  Each  had  a  small  gate  contain- 
ing a  slide-door,  the  faces  of  which 
were  smeared  with  mud  that  had  not 
been  washed  off,  which  seemed  to 
93 


PAULOWNIA 


have  been  placed  there  in  mischief 
by  the  boys  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  number  and  name  of  the  house, 
which  Oyo  found  at  last,  after  examin- 
ing all  the  labels  on  the  houses  on  both 
sides,  was  on  the  support  of  the  small 
gate,  where  the  mud  was  splashed  thick- 
est and  dirtiest. 

Inuyama  Takemasa.  .  .  . 

Oyo  looked  at  it  again  before  she  en- 
tered the  gate.  The  gentleman  called 
Mr.  Inuyama  was  the  most  captious, 
unsympathetic  and  unreasonable  among 
the  numerous  guests  that  came  to 
Kinugawa.  No  matter  how  busy  they 
were  in  attendance  in  the  parlors,  he 
would  not  be  satisfied  if  he  could  not  call 
up  Oyo  and  all  the  other  maids  into  his 
room.  If  the  mistress  did  not  come  to 
salute  him  every  time  he  came  he  would 
be  angry  and  say :  "You  insult  me,"  or 
94 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


"You  treat  me  coldly."  It  was  said  that 
he  gave  up  his  membership  in  the  parlia- 
ment as  it  did  not  suit  his  dignity.  His 
profession  at  present  was  that  of  a  poli- 
tician. He  was  fond  of  geishas  as 
young  as  babies,  and  if  the  girls  did  not 
obey  his  will,  he  was  so  furious  that  no- 
body could  touch  him,  and  Oyo  not  only 
despised  him  more  than  any  of  the  other 
guests,  but  also  was  afraid,  without  any 
reason,  of  his  forbidding  appearance 
and  loud  voice.  He  always  wore  Euro- 
pean clothes  and  used  to  come  in  a 
Kuruma  pulled  by  two  drawers,  saying 
that  the  lower  class  of  people  ride  in 
the  trolley.  Once  in  a  certain  conver- 
sation, when  the  mistress  had  said  to 
him  that  "in  these  days  not  only  the 
expenses  of  your  pleasure  and  the  tips 
for  geisha  become  dearer,  but  even  your 


95 


PAULOWNIA 


expense  for  Kuruma  must  be  very  con- 
siderable," he  laughed : 

"Mistress,  the  money  is  earned  to 
spend.  Ha !  ha !  ha !  ha !" 

But  these  prosperous  days  were  no 
longer.  When  it  was  hardly  December 

of  that  year,  Mr.  Inuyama  suddenly 

« 

stopped  coming,  and  in  spite  of  many 
letters  he  would  not  respond  to  the  bill 
of  two  hundred  yen  of  that  month  and 
the  fifty-yen  balance  of  the  previous 
month.  Kinugawa  was  obliged  to  talk 
it  over  with  a  geisha  who  first  brought 
Mr.  Inuyama  after  their  meeting  at  a 
certain  Matsumotoro,  but,  it  was  almost 
clear  that  she  could  not  shake  her  sleeve 
when  she  had  none,  and  so  January 
passed  in  this  way,  and  now  it  was  Feb- 
ruary. The  mistress  sent  Oyo  to  the 
mansion  of  Mr.  Inuyama  to  recon- 

noiter. 

96 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


Oyo  had  known  numerous  cases  of 
this  kind,  not  only  of  men  like  Mr.  Inu- 
yama,  but  also  of  many  other  guesfs. 
She  thought  this  nothing  more  than  the 
bad  ways  of  people.  She  thought  only 
that  they  will  be  enjoying  themselves  at 
some  other  house,  if  they  do  not  come 
to  hers,  then,  it  will  be  good  of  them  if 
they  will  be  more  considerate  and  pay 
the  bill.  The  reason  Oyo  looked  again 
at  the  label  on  the  gate  was  the  fact  that 
the  gate  of  his  mansion  was  so  dirty. 
But,  to  enter  the  gate  was  better  than 
the  annoyance  of  walking  around  aim- 
lessly any  longer  in  the  frost-melting 
road,  so  she  looked  around  from  the 
porch  with  its  dirty  and  broken  paper- 
screen,  wondering  which  was  the  serv- 
ants' entrance. 

On  the  right  hand,  beyond  the  bam- 
boo fence,  was  visible  the  roof  of  a  one- 
97 


PAULOWNIA 


storied  house  looking  cold  under  the 
garden  trees.  She  got  a  glimpse  of  an 
old  red  blanket  and  a  dirty  cotton  gown 
hung  on  a  clothes-pole,  through  the 
crevices  of  the  bamboo  fence.  On  the 
left  hand,  further  on,  were  one-storied 
houses  with  lattice  gates,  and  another 
that  looked  like  a  rented  house.  Be- 
side the  wheel-well,  where  the  plum- 
blossoms  showed  their  buds,  a  fish- 
monger was  cutting  a  salted  salmon. 
Two  maidservants  in  careless  Hisashi- 
gami,  who  carried  babies  under  quilted 
gowns  and  wore  European  aprons 
which  had  become  gray,  seemed  to  be  at 
the  height  of  their  silly  conversation 
with  the  fishmonger.  As  soon  as  they 
caught  sight  of  Oyo,  whose  appearance 
was  quite  different,  they  sharpened  their 
eyes,  and,  seeming  rather  to  fear  her, 
looked  her  over  attentively  from  top  to 
98 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


toe.  The  road  from  the  well  to  the  serv- 
ants' entrance  was  spread  with  straw 
bags  of  charcoal,  and  the  muddy  water 
of  the  melting  frost  ran  into  the  feet  of 
people  walking  on  them.  Being  in  much 
perplexity  Oyo  could  not  move  a  step, 
and  bending  her  waist,  said: 

"I  beg  your  pardon." 

Both  of  the  maidservants  stood  won- 
der-stricken with  open  mouths. 

"Is  this  Mr.  Inuyama's  house?" 

Suddenly  one  of  the  maidservants  be- 
gan to  grow  uneasy,  and,  perceiving  her 
manner,  Oyo  said: 

"I  came  with  a  message  from  Kyo- 
bashi.  Is  the  master  at  home?" 

"He  is  absent." 

Then  the  baby  on  her  back  began  to 
cry. 

Oyo,  as  she  was  ordered  by  the  mis- 
tress, remembered  how  to  proceed  when 
99 


PAULOWNIA 


she  was  told  the  master  was  absent, 
namely,  to  call  madam  to  the  servants' 
entrance  and  leave  the  word  that  she  was 
the  messenger  from  Mizuta,  which  was 
the  name  of  her  mistress.  However,  as 
Oyo  was  only  eighteen  or  nineteen,  she 
felt  somewhat  timid  and  stood  on  the 
walk,  forgetting  even  that  the  water  of 
the  melting  frost  was  overflowing  on  her 
polished  wooden  clogs.  The  baby  on 
the  back  of  the  maidservant  cried  more 
and  more. 

"Chiyo!  Chiyo!"    Suddenly,  a  voice 
of  woman,  close  to  her  ears,  aroused  her. 

Being  astonished,  Oyo  turned  and 
saw  at  the  broken  paper-screens  of  the 
servants'  entrance  not  farther  than  six 
inches,  the  big  face  of  woman,  like  a 
horse,  with  the  eyes  widely  separated 
from  each  other.  The  careless  Hisa- 
shigami  could  not  be  beaten  by  the  maid- 
100 


THE  BILL-COLLECTING 


servants.  She  was  a  big,  clumsy 
madam  in  a  dirty  and  creased  Hifu. 

Just  then,  the  fishermonger  came  to 
offer  three  slices  of  the  salted  salmon  to 
madam.  Madam  continued  talking 
with  the  fishermonger,  and  Oyo,  at  last 
somewhat  aroused  and  feeling  at  the 
same  time  a  sense  of  deep  disappoint- 
ment, went  out  from  the  gate  as  if  to 
escape.  For  she  felt  that  her  troubles 
in  coming  so  far  had  been  all  in  vain. 
She  was  exceedingly  sorry  for  her  mis- 
tress, as  she  had  been  entirely  deceived 
by  this  humbug. 

When  Oyo  rode  again  in  the  trolley 
she  felt,  at  first,  the  fatigue  of  the  vain 
effort  and  at  the  same  time  the  fact  that 
she  was  unbearably  hungry,  but  being 
unable  to  do  anything  about  it,  she  ar- 
rived at  Ginza.  The  sun  was  already 
declining.  Calling  to  her  mind  the 
101 


PAULOWNIA 


clockstand  of  Hattori,  which  she  saw 
when  she  was  waiting  for  the  car  that 
morning,  she  looked  up,  and  lo!  was  it 
not  already  near  to  four  o'clock!  Oyo 
felt  her  heart  sinking  with  melancholy, 
picturing  in  her  mind  the  flash  of  her 
mistress'  eye,  who  never  would  say  to 
her:  "How  early  you  are!"  when  she 
returned  from  the  far-away  errand. 
The  electric  lights  were  already  lit  in  the 
shops.  .  .  . 


102 


UKIYOE 


UKIYOE 
By  NAGAI  KAFU 

[The  following  sketches  were  written 
on  seeing  a  collection  of  famous  prints, 
which  were  exhibited  at  the  Imperial 
Museum  during  the  month  of  April  in 
the  forty-fourth  year  of  Meiji  (1911)  ]. 

THE   WOMAN   OF   UTAMARO 

TT7HAT     a     languid     sweetness! 
What    a   dreamy    pensiveness! 
The  Woman  of  Utamaro  almost  swoon- 
ing, tortured,  benumbed  by  that  fulness 
of  pleasure  which  stirs  all  the  sensibili- 
ties of  a  body  called  woman!    O,  the 
Woman  of  Utamaro! 
105 


PAULOWNIA 


Your  body  is  only  of  soft,  soft  skin, 
of  smooth,  smooth  flesh.  Is  your  soul 
melted  and  your  bone  lost?  When  you 
are  sitting,  you  twist  your  body  and 
bend  your  neck ;  you  are  always  leaning 
against  a  pillar,  a  railing  or  a  chamber 
window,  sitting  with  upraised  knee  to 
attract  attention  to  the  roundness  of  the 
thigh  bigger  than  the  waist,  and  expos- 
ing with  such  indifference  the  fair  white- 
ness of  the  calf. 

When  you  are  standing  you  are  won- 
derfully tall.  The  long  sleeves!  The 
trailing  skirts!  Though  the  dress  you 
wear  is,  sometimes,  a  thin,  transparent 
gauze,  through  which  your  arms,  your 
bosom,  and  even  the  crimson  crape  on 
your  waist  are  seen,  still  you  hardly 
seem  able  to  support  its  weight,  and  I 
fear  lest  you  fall. 

Though  your  hair  is  always  dressed  so 
106 


UKIYOE 

faultlessly  that  there  is  not  a  single 
stray  lock,  you  never  try  to  adjust  your 
loosened  sash.  Are  not  the  folds  of  your 
undergarments  open  and  your  dress  al- 
most slipping  down  from  your  shoul- 
ders? What  are  you  looking  at  when 
you  stretch  your  long  neck  as  you  lift 
up  your  face?  Is  it  the  landscape,  the 
ferryboat  on  the  Sumida  river,  or  do  you 
hear  the  bustling  sounds  of  Ryogoku? 
Nay,  nay,  your  small,  slender  eyes  must 
be  following  after  the  shadows  of  the 
dream  that  will  never  come  to  an  end. 
No  wonder  that  you  cover  your  mouth 
with  one  of  your  sleeves  whenever  you 
have  to  speak,  as  if  to  say:  "I  cannot 
speak  so  shameful  a  thing."  No  won- 
der that  you  hesitate,  touching  the  long 
hairpin  with  your  slender  fingers. 

You  seem  to  avoid  the  sunshine  be- 
cause it  is  too  bright,  and  the  blue  color 
107 


PAULOWNIA 


of  the  sky  because  it  is  too  deep.  O, 
the  goddess  of  pleasure  of  the  land  of 
Shamisen,  for  whom  even  the  blowing 
wind  seems  to  soften  when  he  observes 
your  too  delicate  figure!  Standing  in 
the  twilight  of  fear  and  shame  and  se- 
crecy, the  passive  Woman  of  Utamaro 
is  lamenting  the  once  tempting  pleas- 
ure, the  lingering  dream. 

THE  FLOWEB  VIEWING 

The  shade  of  a  huge  cherry  tree 
blooming  in  the  fullest  flower.  An  af- 
ternoon of  a  beautiful  spring  day.  A 
sudden  gale  of  wind  scatters  the  snow 
of  the  falling  flowers  without  reserve  or 
compunction.  Alas!  Alas!  It  is  as 
though  we  behold  all  the  sorrows  of  the 
world  before  our  eyes.  Lifting  her  long 
sleeves  of  Furisode,  a  little  princess  of 
108 


UKIYOE 

about  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  is  turn- 
ing her  face  aslant  with  her  black  hair 
that  seems  overweighted  with  orna- 
ments; from  right  and  left,  the  court 
ladies  in  Maruwage,  in  their  bloom  of 
middle  age,  are  covering  the  princess 
surprised  by  the  wind  with  their  sleeves 
of  Uchikake  as  a  fence,  shaking  off  the 
snow  of  the  falling  flowers.  To-day  will 
be  the  last  of  the  flower-viewing  for 
this  year.  Leaving  the  poem  in  lam- 
entation of  the  spring,  now,  let  us 
go! 

A  pretty  attendant  maid  of  about 
seventeen  or  eighteen  years  is  trying  to 
fasten  on  a  branch  of  the  cherry  tree,  a 
Tanzaku,  on  which  the  poem  of  parting 
with  spring  is  written  by  the  princess. 
But  the  cherry  branch  is  higher  than 
the  height  of  a  plump  maiden  at  seven- 
teen or  eighteen.  How  can  she  reach  it, 
109 


PAULOWNIA 


though  she  stretch  herself  so?  .  .  .  One 
of  the  attendant  maids  is  on  a  cask  of 
the  sweet  wine,  on  which  is  written  Dai 
kanai,  or  Great  Luck.  The  other  is  on 
the  shoulder  of  a  beautiful  lad,  who 
looks  almost  like  a  girl. 

At  last  the  maid  on  the  cask  seems 
able  to  fasten  the  Tanzaku  on  the 
branch.  The  wind  of  the  falling  flowers 
blows  her  skirts  and  sleeves  like  pen- 
nants. Squatting  on  the  earth,  one  of 
the  attendant  maids  is  holding  the 
rather  small  cask  lest  it  fall,  but  her 
heavy  sleeves  are  being  blown  by  the 
violent  wind ;  the  maid  on  the  cask  seems 
about  to  lose  her  balance. 

As  her  white  legs  are  nearly  peep- 
ing forth  from  the  flowing  linings  of  the 
fluttering  skirts,  she  catches  in  one  hand 
the  branch  and  in  the  other  she  holds 
her  skirts,  bending  her  slender  body  and 
110 


UKIYOE 

passing  the  toes  of  her  feet  firmly  bent 
inward,  she  struggles  to  jump  down 
quickly  from  her  dangerous  position. 

But  see!  The  more  fortunate  one  is 
the  attendant  maid,  on  the  shoulder  of 
the  beautiful  lad.  The  attendant  lad, 
who  has  been  raised  up  to  be  a  toy  of 
women  in  the  innermost  chamber  of  the 
palace  where  there  is  no  one  but  women, 
is  holding  the  attendant  maid's  waist 
firmly  in  his  two  hands  as  high  as  his 
pliant  shoulders;  his  face  is  downcast, 
aslant.  How  lovely  is  his  mouth,  tight- 
ened at  the  corners,  showing  the  full 
force  of  his  exertion  in  his  features, 
more  delicate  than  those  of  a  woman. 
The  rapture  of  heart  and  the  pulsation 
of  the  bosom  of  the  lifted  maid  is  shown 
in  the  entanglement  of  her  sleeves  and 
skirts,  and  the  long  knotted  thongs 
tossed  by  the  wind.  In  spite  of  her  en- 
Ill 


PAULOWNIA 


deavor,  with  both  hands  holding  the 
Tanzaku,  she  does  not  seem  able  to 
fasten  it  on  the  branch. 

O,  the  calm  inner  garden  in  the 
spring,  the  blowing  storm,  the  scatter- 
ing cherry  blossoms,  the  princess  sur- 
prised by  the  wind!  The  attendant 
maid  on  the  cask!  The  beautiful  lad 
lifting  up  the  maid!  Ah!  The  sym- 
pJionia  of  the  delightful  curves  and  the 
faded  colors,  all  revealed  by  the  print  of 
Toyokuni  the  first!  The  dream  of  the 
pleasure  of  the  days  that  are  no  more ! 

NIGHT 

The  bed  chamber  of  women. 

Making  the  narrow  room  appear  nar- 
rower in  the  short  night  near  to  the 
dawn,  the  bamboo,  painted  on  the  six- 
fold screen,  outspread,  conceals  the 
112 


UKIYOE 

Ando-light,  which  is  as  motionless  as 
though  it  were  tired. 

The  hanging  Komon  garments  are 
flowing  comfortably  in  the  softness  of  a 
thing  called  silk,  in  the  stifling  warmth 
of  the  closed  chamber. 

From  the  faded  color  of  the  red  silk, 
stealthily  rises  the  odor  of  the  skin  and 
the  remnant  of  the  perfumes  from  pow- 
dered necks.  Pleasantly  they  evapo- 
rate and  drift  through  the  darkness  of 
the  chamber  where  there  is  no  man. 
Without  even  adjusting  the  loosened 
night  dress,  the  pliant  half  bodies  of  two 
women  slip  out  from  the  turned-back 
bedclothes  of  crimson  crepe  that  look 
like  pomegranates,  bursting  by  ripened 
maturity,  breathing  flames. 

"Come,  get  up.  The  cuckoo  bird  is 
cooing." 

"What  a  gloomy  sound.    Will  you 
113 


PAULOWNIA 


lift  up  the  lamp-wick?  I  feel  I  am  still 
dreaming." 

By  the  light  of  Ando  trimmed,  Ihe 
sound  of  the  bird  of  night  which  is  not 
a  dream,  has  ceased,  and  from  the  Toko- 
noma,  the  place  for  decoration,  the  pe- 
ony flowers  in  a  bronze  vase  show  their 
gorgeous  petals,  almost  terrifying  in 
their  bloom.  At  the  bedside  is  a  picture 
of  love  in  an  uncovered  book  of  ro- 
mance, left  as  it  was  the  evening  before 
when  she  was  reading  it.  Already  come 
the  sounds  of  a  drum  from  the  shrine 
of  Seishoko  near  by ! 

No  matter  how  the  night  of  May  hur- 
ries to  the  dawn,  in  comfortable  sleep 
in  bed  where  the  mind  loosens  like  a 
thong,  in  the  bed-chamber  of  women 
without  man,  the  day  breaks  not  yet. 

"Lo,  the  Ando !    The  oil  is  gone." 

114 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 
By  SHIMAZAKI  TOSON 

HER  first  misfortune  was  at  her 
birth;  she  came  into  the  world 
with  short  gray  hair,  overhanging  ears, 
and  fox-like  eyes.  Every  animal  which 
is  called  by  favor  domestic  has  a  cer- 
tain quality  which  attracts  to  itself  the 
friendly  feeling  of  man.  But  she  did 
not  have  it.  Nothing  in  her  counte- 
nance seemed  to  be  favored  by  man. 
She  was  entirely  lacking  in  the  usual 
qualifications  of  a  domestic  animal. 
Naturally  she  was  deserted. 

However,  she  was  also  a  dog,  an  ani- 
mal which  cannot  live  by  itself.     She 
117 


PAULOWNIA 


could  not  leave  the  hereditary  habitat  to 
be  fed  by  people  and  then  go  back  to 
the  wild  native  place  of  her  remote  an- 
cestors. She  began  to  search  after  a 
suitable  human  house. 

This  troublesome  being  strayed  to  the 
estate  of  Kin  san,  a  planter,  when  the 
building  of  the  new  wood-roofed  rent 
house  was  just  finished.  The  house  was 
built  along  the  village  road  of  Okubo, 
located  in  such  a  manner  as  to  enable 
one  to  go  to  the  main  street  through 
the  back  yard.  The  floor  was  high  and 
the  ground  was  dry.  Moreover,  there 
was  a  narrow,  dark,  unoccupied  space 
at  the  foot  of  the  fence  between  this 
house  and  the  next,  so  that  she  could 
promptly  hide  herself  in  an  emergency. 
She  lost  no  time  in  occupying  this  un- 
derground refuge. 

The  urgent  necessity  was  to  get  the 
118 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


food.  There  were  two  more  rent  houses 
on  this  estate,  which  made  four  with  the 
farm-like  main  house  where  Kin  san's 
family  lived.  These  houses  stood  each 
against  the  other,  and  trees  with  grace- 
ful branches  were  between  them.  Her 
sharp  nose  taught  her  first  the  direction 
toward  the  kitchen.  As  she  was  hun- 
gry, there  was  no  time  for  choice. 
Peeled  skins  of  fruits,  cold,  evil-smell- 
ing soup,  corrupt  remnants  of  dishes — 
she  ate  everything  she  could  get.  If 
these  were  not  enough  to  satisfy  her,  she 
smelt  around  even  the  dust  heap,  and 
hunted  as  far  as  she  could  hunt.  Some 
dirty  socks  were  soaked  in  the  wash-tub 
beside  the  well.  Gladly,  she  drank  the 
water  from  the  tub. 

There  was  an  old  Mokusei  in  the 
garden.    She  decided  to  make  of  their 
shade    her    resting    place;    stretching 
119 


PAULOWNIA 


out  her  four  legs  on  the  ground,  which 
was  warmed  by  the  sunshine  through  the 
leaves,  she  sighed  or  scratched  the  itchy 
spots.  When  it  was  evening  she  entered 
her  underground  retreat  and  lay  down 
on  the  charcoal  bags  which  were  under 
the  floor  above.  A  large  wash-tub  she 
also  tried.  Sometimes  she  crept  as  far 
as  the  passage  under  the  kitchen  floor, 
and  slept  on  the  charcoals  in  the  warm 
charcoal  box.  Thus  she  began  her 
life. 

Kin  san's  family,  at  this  time,  kept  a 
piebald  dog  of  brown  and  white,  whose 
name  was  Pochi.  This  lively  Pochi  was 
the  only  being  who  welcomed  her. 
Pochi  seemed  to  have  a  sociable  nature ; 
he  approached  her  politely  scratching 
the  ground.  She  made  her  return  greet- 
ing by  shaking  her  dirty  tail. 

But  Kin  san  and  the  others  who  lived 
120 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


on  his  estate  did  not  receive  her  as 
Pochi  did.    "Isn't  it  a  great  loss  to  be 
ugly,   even   among  the   animals,"   re- 
marked one.    "I  might  keep  her,  if  she 
were  a  bit  better,'*  said  another.     All 
this  was  meaningless  to  her,  and  she  was 
called  Pup  by  these  people  who  did  not 
know.    Each  of  the  four  houses  had  an 
"aunt,"  which  was  the  name  given  to 
the  hostess  of  the  family.     Not  only 
these   aunts,   but   also  their   children, 
laughed  at  and  hated  her  and  burst  out 
railingly,  calling  her  "Pup,  pup."    As 
for  the  "uncles,"  they  were  more  dread- 
ful.   The  least  relaxing  of  her  vigilance 
caused  them  to  chase  her.    Many  things 
were  thrown  at  her, — stones,  clumps  of 
clay,  the  iron  firestick.    Once  a  big  club 
of  the  door  guard  was  flung  after  her, 
and  made  a  wound  on  her  hind  leg. 
Gradually,  she  understood  the  human 
121 


PAULOWNIA 


mind.  The  significant  twist  of  the 
mouth,  a  gesture  as  if  to  pick  up  some- 
thing, the  shrugging  of  shoulders  and 
the  bitten  lips — all  sentiments  expressed 
against  her — showed  to  her  the  deep 
enmity  of  the  hunter.  One  day  she  was 
almost  driven  to  bay  in  Kin  san's 
kitchen.  Nobody  knows  how  she  was 
able  to  find  the  means  of  escape !  Peo- 
ple were  crying:  "Bring  the  rope — the 
rope,  the  rope!'*  She  was  desperate, 
and,  running  through  the  garden,  where 
were  the  dwarf  trees,  she  went  toward 
the  hot-house ;  turning  around  the  barn, 
she  escaped  to  the  fields,  where  were  the 
flowers  to  be  sold  on  fete  days. 

"Gone,  at  last !"  said  one  of  the  uncles. 
"Isn't  she  a  troublesome  thing?"  replied 
Kin  san,  who  laughed  like  a  good-na- 
tured man. 

It  was  not  only  once  or  twice  that  she 
122 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


met  such  hard  experiences.  But  she  was 
not  a  dog  to  be  crushed  down  by  this 
kind  of  hardship.  She  would  hunt 
around  for  food  with  calm  composure, 
with  the  appearance  of  saying:  "This 
is  my  own  territory."  Boldly  she 
stepped  into  the  new  kitchen  of  the  rent 
house,  or  went  up  to  the  veranda  with 
her  dirty  feet.  She  bit  off  the  laces  from 
the  garden  slippers,  and  played  with  the 
washed  things  of  the  aunts,  smearing 
them  with  mud  and  dust.  She  had  no 
regard  for  the  human  children.  This 
family  had  a  girl  named  Ko  chan,  who 
liked  to  come  out  to  play  in  the  yard,  in 
big  wooden  clogs  trailing  on  the  ground. 
She  chased  this  girl  for  fun.  Some- 
times, Ko  chan  would  bring  out  a  piece 
of  tasty-looking  cake  and  show  it  to  her. 
"Look  here!  Look  here,  Pup!" 
Instantly  she  jumped  at  Ko  chan. 
123 


PAULOWNIA 


"Oh,  Pup  is  wicked,  mamma!" 

This  was  always  Ko  chan's  cry  for 
help.  Then  the  aunt  came  hastily  and 
called  Ko  chan. 

"Run  away,  Ko  chan! — quick!  Why 
do  you  wear  such  big  clogs?"  By  this 
time  poor  Ko  chan  had  nothing  left. 
She  had  taken  the  cake  from  the  crying 
Ko  chan,  thus  securing  the  sweets  which 
are  eaten  by  man.  At  such  time,  she 
usually  licked  the  top  of  her  nose  with 
her  red  tongue. 

Nevertheless,  there  was  no  intention 
of  good  or  evil  in  her  actions.  These 
words  she  heard  from  the  uncles  and 
aunts  of  the  estate,  but  nothing  about 
them  was  known  to  her.  She  had  no 
understanding  of  the  etiquette  and  civil- 
ity created  by  man.  She  was  only  a 
dog.  Whether  her  action  was  impolite 
or  not,  that  was  not  a  question.  She 
124 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


was  only  a  poor  animal,  acting  accord- 
ing to  its  nature. 

The  cold,  scanty,  miserable  winter 
passed  while  she  suffered  this  "better  go 
away"  treatment.  It  was  a  wonder  that 
she  did  not  die  from  hunger.  The  beg- 
ging priest  who  used  to  come  to  Okubo 
every  morning  said  that  even  he  did  not 
get  much.  As  to  the  humble  woman 
who  took  a  child  with  her,  she  was  re- 
fused mostly  by  "no  business,"  or 
"nothing  doing."  Even  human  beings 
were  in  a  sad  state.  How,  then,  could 
they  spare  to  this  ignorant  and  useless 
animal,  this  embarrassing  dog,  a  bowl- 
ful of  their  cold  rice?  She  roamed  on 
the  snow  in  the  far-off  places,  and  ate 
everything,  even  the  skins  of  the  orange. 

Meanwhile,  the  spring  has  come.  And 
at  the  time  when  the  frost  began  to  melt 
she  seemed  to  be  quite  grown  up.  All 
125 


PAULOWNIA 


the  dogs,  from  Kin  san's  Pochi  to  Kuro 
of  the  bathing  house,  Aka  of  the  timber- 
dealer's,  and  the  fearful  big  dog  which 
was  kept  at  the  neighboring  planter's, 
gathered  around  her.  Wherever  she 
goes,  she  is  followed  by  two  or  three 
dogs.  So  a  comfortable  place  like  that 
shade  of  Mokusei  was  overflowing  with 
deep  groans  of  dogs  that  sounded  as  if 
they  wished  to  whisper  or  to  flatter. 

An  aunt  who  came  to  the  well-side 
with  a  hand-pail  in  her  hand,  saw  this 
sight. 

"My!"  she  said.  "Pup  was  a  female 
dog!  I  never  noticed  that !" 

And  the  aunt  of  the  new  rent  house, 
who  happened  to  be  there,  also  said : 

"Neither  did  I !" 

And  the  two  aunts  laughed,  greatly 
amused. 

She  ought  to  be  banished.  Such  was 
126 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


the  argument  which  was  raised  in  the 
estate  of  Kin  san.  Among  the  members 
of  the  four  families,  however,  the  argu- 
ments raged  between  two  parties,  the 
uncles  and  the  aunts.  According  to  the 
point  of  view  which  was  insisted  upon 
by  the  aunts,  it  was  now  different.  She 
was  not  in  the  condition  she  was  for- 
merly, and  it  would  be  too  pitiful  if  she 
were  to  have  a  baby.  As  is  expected  of 
those  with  experience,  the  aunts  were 
sympathetic,  comparing  her  with  them- 
selves. That  may  be  so,  but  how  awful 
it  would  be  if  she  gave  birth  to  chil- 
dren !  This  was  the  opinion  held  by  the 
uncles.  Indeed,  there  was  nobody  who 
was  not  anxious  about  her  future. 

She  did  not  know  anything  about  this. 

Another  day,  a  carriage  stopped  at 
the  door  of  Kin  san.  There  was  some- 
thing like  a  lidless  box  on  this  carriage, 
127 


PAULOWNIA 


which  was  covered  with  a  dirty  straw 
mat.  Her  quick  nose  smelt  out  what 
was  in  the  carriage. 

Following  after  a  policeman  in  uni- 
form came  a  dubious  looking  man,  who 
entered  the  house.  But  she  was  not 
roaming  in  such  a  dangerous  place. 
Pochi,  Kuro  and  the  other  dogs  began 
to  cry  all  at  once.  Now,  uncles,  aunts, 
and  all  people  of  the  village  came 
out. 

"Dog  hunter,  mammal" 

Ko  chan  hid  herself  behind  her  mother. 

People  ran  around  the  garden.  Kin 
san's  daughter,  whose  daily  duty  it  was 
to  water  the  flowers,  ran  out  to  the  street 
with  a  dipper  in  her  hand.  A  middle- 
school  boy,  who  was  painting  a  water- 
color  picture,  followed  them,  flinging 
away  his  tripod. 

"Thither  she  escaped,  hither  she  rani" 
128 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


The  confusion  itself  was  very  extraor- 
dinary. 

"Surely,  Pup  is  killed,"  Ko  chan 
said,  trembling. 

At  last,  she  has  escaped.  A  man  with 
big  oak  club  in  his  hand,  shook  his  head 
to  his  companion.  "No  use,  no  use,"  the 
policeman  said  and  laughed  when  he 
went  out  the  gate.  With  disappointed 
looks  the  two  men  drew  away  the  empty 
carriage. 

Anyway  she  had  .escaped  with  her  life. 
And,  by  and  by,  her  bosom  became 
larger.  Her  eyes  began  to  be  shaded 
with  the  restless  color.  Now  she  must 
guard  not  only  herself,  but  also  her 
children  within  her  womb.  Thus  the 
pleasant  shade  of  Mokusei  was  no  more 
the  place  for  security.  Even  when  she 
was  comfortably  lying  on  the  moist 
earth,  breathing  out  her  agony  for  a 
129 


PAULOWNIA 


while,  she  stood  up  as  soon  as  she  saw  the 
shadow  of  a  man.  She  could  not  be  neg- 
ligent even  for  a  moment.  To  her  eyes, 
there  was  nothing  as  merciless  and  cruel 
as  the  human  being. 

But,  in  spite  of  her  fear,  she  could  not 
leave  the  human  house.  How  at  ease 
she  would  be  if,  like  other  animals,  she 
could  go  to  a  distant  forest  and  give 
birth  amid  the  green  trees  and  grasses ! 
Thus  it  might  seem  to  the  looker-on, 
but  it  was  not  so  with  her,  she  was 
unable  to  change  her  inherited  na- 
ture. 

It  was  just  at  the  beginning  of  June 
that  she  finished  her  duty  of  mother- 
hood. Four  puppies  appeared  in  the 
hot-house  of  Kin  san.  Two  of  them 
were  beautiful  piebald  puppies  of 
brown  and  white  like  that  of  Pochi,  one 
was  entirely  black,  and  the  other  was  of 
130 


A  DOMESTIC  ANIMAL 


ambiguous  gray,  very  much  like  her- 
self! 

Ah,  it  was  in  the  morning  of  her 
motherhood  that  she  first  saw  the  smiles 
of  human  beings.  It  was  also  in  that 
morning  of  her  motherhood  that  she 
first  had  nourishing  food  since  her 
birth. 

"Pup — come,  come." 

Opening  the  paper  screen  of  the 
kitchen,  the  aunt  at  Kin  san's  began  to 
call  her,  as  she  has  called  her  since  that 
day. 


131 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 
BY  SHIMAZAKI  TOSON 

AS  my  wife  is  hard  of  hearing,  she 
cannot  understand  what  I  say  un- 
less I  speak  close  to  her  ear,  in  rather  a 
loud  voice. 

Though  the  time  to  go  on  board  the 
ship  was  approaching,  she  was  still  lean- 
ing on  the  window  at  the  first  floor  of 
the  inn,  and  would  not  even  prepare  to 
start.  Vacantly  she  was  contemplating 
the  sight  of  the  dark  green  sea,  the  sea- 
mews  flying  in  groups,  and  the  Suru- 
gamaru,  the  regular  liner,  which  was 
about  to  start  for  Hakodate,  ready  to 
take  us  two  on  board.  At  such  times, 
135 


PAULOWNIA 


she  is  always  weeping,  calling  to  her 
mind  our  departed  son.  This  I  no- 
ticed by  the  sight  of  her  back.  I  stroked 
her  on  the  shoulder  and  urged  her  to 
start. 

"Come.  Get  ready,  get  ready!" 
The  day  was  perfect  for  a  voyage.  It 
was  the  time  when  the  regular  steam- 
ship lines  were  interrupted  by  the  rumor 
that  the  Russian  ships  from  Vladivos- 
tock,  which  not  long  before  had  passed 
through  Tsugaru  Strait,  were  appearing 
now  and  then  along  the  Pacific  coast. 
During  five  or  six  days  only  was  this 
line  between  Awomori  and  Hakodate 
in  operation.  As  it  was  disappointing 
to  my  wife  and  myself  to  go  home  after 
having  come  so  far,  and  as  the  Russian 
ships  were  said  to  be  cruising  on  the 
open  sea  in  the  vicinity  of  Oshima  and 
the  Izu  Islands — the  very  night  before 
136 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


we  had  heard  that  the  fleet  of  the  enemy 
was  sunk,  the  announcement  of  which 
some  of  the  newspapers  printed  in  an 
extra — we  left  the  inn,  not  worrying 
about  the  ships,  trusting  somewhat  to 
the  truth  of  the  statements  in  the  ex- 
tra. 

There  were  soldiers  in  the  streets  in 
sober  khaki-colored  summer  uniform, 
watching  us  hurrying  toward  the  pier. 
As  my  wife  was  walking  in  meditation, 
her  slowness  somewhat  irritated  me. 
She  suddenly  stopped  and  this  is  what 
she  said: 

"Ah!  Ah!  If  only  Ryunosuke  were 
living  I  would  bring  him  with  us  to  a 
place  like  this  and  give  him  pleasure." 

She    sighed.      Ryunosuke    was   the 
name  of  our  son.    I  did  not  know  what 
to  do  and,  putting  my  mouth  close  to 
her  ear,  as  if  to  scold  her,  I  said: 
137 


PAULOWNIA 


"You  will  try  me  if  you  keep  con- 
stantly calling  him  to  mind !" 

Instantly,  my  wife  flushed. 

"Oh!  You  are  so  cruel!  I  am  liv- 
ing only  because  of  the  consolation  of 
his  memory.  If  you  wish  me  not  to 
speak  of  him,  bid  me  die." 

My  wife  is  tiresome,  for  she  is  just 
a  baby,  and  I  am  only  a  nurse  who  is 
taking  care  of  this  infant  of  forty  years, 

"Tut!  tut!  How  could  you  say  such 
a  thing  in  the  street  ?  Look,  everybody 
is  turning  and  laughing  at  us." 

I  spoke  thus,  but  the  words  were  not 
heard  by  my  wife.  Ah ! 

Nothing  is  so  hard  to  foresee  as  hu- 
man life.  We  never  expected  such  a 
sad  end  to  our  son,  nor  did  we  ever 
dream  of  going  together  for  this  jour- 
ney. It  was  caused  by  chance.  The 
138 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


daily  accidents,  who  can  understand 
them?  It  was  unforeseen  that  we 
should  pass  a  night  at  this  far  eastern 
port  of  Oshu.  It  was  unforeseen  that 
we  should  go  aboard  this  ship.  Above 
all,  it  was  unforeseen  that  we  should  be 
crossing  Tsugaru  Strait. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  boat 
started.  She  left  the  shore  with  the 
brave  shouts  of  the  boatmen,  in  the 
Nanbu  accent.  The  sailors  of  the  ship 
were  leaning  on  the  bulwark,  looking 
down  at  the  approaching  boats  filled 
with  passengers.  Unfortunately,  the 
first  and  the  second  classes  were  both 
full  on  that  day.  Although  I  was  some- 
what fearful,  on  account  of  traveling 
with  my  wife,  to  take  the  third  class  and 
be  treated  like  cargo,  I  concluded  from 
experience  that  nothing  is  better  than 
the  deck  in  such  fine  weather.  In- 
139 


PAULOWNIA 


stantly  upon  our  arrival  on  the 
steamer,  we  took  our  places  at  the 
prow. 

Meanwhile,  upon  the  stroke  of  the 
bell  announcing  ten  o'clock,  the  noisy 
sounds  of  the  weighing  anchor  were 
heard.  The  steam  whistle  was  blown 
as  if  to  bid  farewell,  and  it  resounded 
through  the  sky  overhanging  the  har- 
bor. The  ship  began  to  sail. 

The  deck  where  we  took  our  place 
was  near  to  the  mast,  larger  than  one 
could  reach  around.  When  the  cool 
wind  blew  from  the  southwest,  sending 
the  gay  sunshine  with  the  breezes,  I 
felt  at  last  somewhat  revived.  We 
spread  the  mat  under  the  canvas  shades 
and  rested  ourselves,  leaning  on  some 
of  the  cargo.  After  a  while  I  wanted  to 
have  a  smoke,  but,  searching  around  my 
waist,  I  found  there  was  no  tobacco 
140 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


pouch.  Then,  gazing  at  my  face,  my 
wife  said: 

"You  see?  Surely  you  have  left  it 
again  at  the  inn,"  and  she  smiled. 

This  was  quite  a  surprise  to  me.  I 
thought  I  was  very  composed,  But,  al- 
though I  was  constantly  scolding  my 
wife  to  brace  her  up,  it  was  proved  by 
this  oversight  that  my  own  dejection 
was  more  than  that  of  hers.  "Now, 
then,"  I  thought,  "I  myself  must  be 
somewhat  queer,"  and  I  suddenly  felt 
dispirited.  The  more  I  tried  not  to  be 
overcome,  the  more  my  brain  was  op- 
pressed with  deep  chagrin.  No  doubt  I 
was  becoming  an  idiot. 

The  ship  sailed  out  from  the  gulf  of 
Awomori,  leaving  behind  the  lighthouse 
of  Hiradate,  white  in  the  distance;  the 
sun  was  mounting  higher  in  tKe  sky. 
The  dark  blue  waves  of  the  Japan  cur- 
141 


PAULOWNIA 


rent  rolled  in  from  the  Sea  of  Japan, 
broke  resoundingly  against  the  side  of 
the  ship,  and  sparkled  in  the  sunshine. 
In  the  lazy  hours  of  the  voyage,  people 
came  and  went  on  the  deck,  pausing  to 
admire  the  view.  I  also  leaned  on  the 
bulwark  and  listened  to  the  sounds  of 
the  summer  tides,  filling  my  mind  with 
the  voice  of  the  late  July  sea.  Sud- 
denly, my  thoughts  were  possessed  by 
my  son.  Bitter  recollections  gushed  up 
in  my  heart.  It  may  sound  strange, 
coming  from  a  parent's  lips,  but,  al- 
though he  was  only  a  boy  when  he  died, 
he  was  clever  enough  to  understand  the 
joy  and  sorrow  of  life;  my  Ryunosuke 
was  not  a  boy  to  be  beaten  by  his  fel- 
low students  in  any  of  his  studies. 

Observing  the  world,  I  notice  that 
the  present  age,  lacking  in  faith,  does 
not  keep  the  young  mind  in  quietude. 
142 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


Such  was  the  short  life  of  my  son.  Such 
an  insatiable  spirit  as  his  could  not  help 
investigating  the  meaning  of  life,  from 
exploring  all  its  works,  its  glories,  and 
its  decadences.  Leaving  the  curious 
multitudes,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a 
great  fool  in  his  misconceptions,  how 
did  he  feel  when  he  retired  from  this 
life,  silently,  with  unutterable  sorrow  in 
his  mind? 

The  desperation  of  thought — if  the 
word  could  be  applied  also  to  the  life 
of  this  youth — this  was  certainly  the 
transient  but  brave  span  of  Ryunosuke. 
Pity  that  he  was  not  a  sage!  He  dis- 
covered that  his  learning  made  him  ig- 
norant. Alas!  my  son  quit  his  studies 
and  his  studies  quit  him.  At  last  he 
went  to  Nikkwo,  and  died  by  throwing 
himself  into  the  fall  of  Kegon.  I  shall 
never  forget  that  day  when  my  son  came 
143 


PAULOWNIA 


home  quite  unexpectedly,  and  bade  us 
farewell  without  telling  us  his  intention, 
nor  that  evening  when  I  gave  him  my 
last  reproof.  The  next  morning,  and 
the  second  morning — there  has  been 
grief  in  every  morning  since  that  time. 
My  wife  became  crazed,  weeping  and 
crying. 

"It  is  your  fault  that  you  gave  him 
such  a  reproof!  Give  me  back  my  son 
alive,  now,  at  once!" 

It  was  inevitable.  We  were  com- 
pelled to  constrain  her  by  force;  we 
wrapped  her  in  quilts,  holding  her;  we 
scolded  and  cajoled  her.  But  the 
strength  of  the  crazed  woman  was  al- 
most more  than  ours.  I  myself  did  not 
eat  nor  sleep  regularly  for  seven  days. 
Indeed,  the  condition  of  my  wife  at  that 
time  was  such  that  it  would  not  have 
been  impossible  for  her  to  have  followed 
144 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


our  son,  to  have  thrown  herself  into  the 
waterfall  of  Nikkwo  mountain.  When 
she  became  a  bit  calmer  I  thought  of  a 
plan,  which  was  this  journey.  I  hoped 
that  her  distressed  mind  might  be  cured 
by  seeing  some  of  the  famous  places. 
As  she  had  exquisite  taste,  in  spite  of 
her  appearance,  I  thought  I  might  be 
able  to  buy  some  Obi,  or  sashes,  if 
she  cared  for  them.  Inducing  her 
to  see  the  modern  fashions,  hoping 
to  quiet  her,  we  started  out  on  this 
journey. 

Alas,  my  son!  After  he  had  passed 
through  the  bitterest  sufferings,  at  the 
moment  he  came  to  think  about  9eath, 
even  he  could  hardly  have  dreamed  of 
his  father  becoming  an  idiot,  and  his 
mother  a  lunatic,  weeping  during  the 
day,  thinking  during  the  night,  and 
roaming  thus  far  to  the  northern  sea. 
145 


PAULOWNIA 


I,  who  am  speaking  this,  am  only  a 
man  who  has  spent  a  most  ordinary  but 
peaceful  and  quiet  life  in  the  country. 
How  could  I  foresee  that  this  peaceful 
life  would  change  abruptly  in  its  forty- 
third  year?  Seeking  relief,  we  felt  like 
wandering  pilgrims.  Inhaling  the  sea 
air  of  July,  two  fools  were  listening  to 
the  dreamy  sounds  of  the  waves,  medi- 
tating upon  the  death  of  their  only 
child. 

Strange  imaginings  came  into  my 
mind.  If  the  dead  body  should  float  up 
from  the  basin  of  that  waterfall,  ancl  be 
borne  away  by  the  current,  where  would 
it  go?  Nowhere  but  into  this  ocean! 
Yes,  yes,  this  restless  place  of  wind  and 
wave ;  this  must  be  the  grave  of  my  son ! 
Here  Ryunosuke  must  be  sleeping  for 
ever  and  ever  .  .  .  thus,  in  fancy,  I  was 
indulging  my  thoughts  when  the  bell  of 
146 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


twelve  o'clock  resounded  through  the 
ship. 

For  lunch,  a  Bento  in  a  square  lunch- 
eon-box, was  distributed  to  each  of  the 
passengers.  We  could  not  eat  ours  on 
account  of  the  boiled  cuttle-fish.  But 
two  young  men,  who  came  with  their 
own  luncheons,  took  their  seat  close  to 
us,  and  began  to  eat  with  gusto.  One 
of  them  looked  as  though  he  were  ac- 
customed to  labor.  He  reminded  me  of 
"Ankosan,"  the  young  men  who  are 
said,  after  indulgence  in  wine  and 
women,  to  draw  the  snow-sledges  at 
such  a  place  as  Goryokaku. 

The  other  boy  looked  two  or  three 
years  younger  than  his  friend,  and 
seemed  just  about  the  age  of  my  son. 
Apparently,  he  was  a  student,  as  was 
shown  by  his  naive  appearance.  And 
then,  the  youthfulness  of  the  expres- 
147 


PAULOWNIA 


sion  about  his  eyes  when  he  looked  at 
the  sea  through  his  spectacles,  was  sin- 
gularly like  that  of  Ryunosuke.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  the  "haunting  resem- 
blance of  the  stranger."  However,  I 
was  quite  surprised  in  my  own  mind, 
wondering  whether  it  was  possible  for 
anyone  else  to  see  such  a  resemblance. 
How  I  gazed,  rubbing  my  eyes,  at  the 
silhouette  of  the  student ! 

As  for  my  wife,  I  looked  at  her  and 
saw  she  entertained  the  same  feeling. 
When  we  looked  at  each  other,  we  un- 
derstood our  mutual  thought  without  a 
word.  Ah!  it  is  unreasonable  that  I 
should  meet  my  dead  son  on  this  ship, 
and  it  was  a  trick  of  my  imagination 
that  caused  me  to  think  that  only  if  I 
should  address  him,  he  would  speak  to 
me  saying:  "Father!  Father!"  anoT,  tak- 
ing my  hand,  would  complain  of  the 
148 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


mysteries  and  fears  and  agonies  of  the 
other  world.  "Surely  he  is  my  son,  my 
Ryunosuke."  Such  an  absurd  thought 
could  only  spring  from  the  foolish  heart 
of  a  parent.  I  do  not  know  how  often 
I  repeated  "Ryunosuke!  Ryunosuke!" 
in  my  mind.  I  was  tempted  to  cry  out 
in  a  loud  voice,  and  was  astonished  at 
my  own  absurdity. 

At  last  I  addressed  the  young  man. 

"Pardon  me.  Where  do  you  come 
from?" 

"I?"  the  student  smiled.  "I  came 
from  Goshu." 

' '  Goshu  ?  Then  you  came  from  a  long 
way  off!" 

"Yes.  I  have  an  uncle  in  Sendai, 
and  came  up  to  ask  his  assistance,  but 
as  I  found  him  absent,  being  called  out 
for  war  .  .  .  Anyway,  I  am  going  up 
to  Hokkaido  to  try  to  find  some  work 
149 


PAULOWNIA 


there.  I  have  been  told  that  there  is 
profitable  employment  at  Sapporo.  If 
I  cannot  find  work  in  Sapporo,  I  may 
go  even  to  Asahigawa." 

"Is  that  so?  Young  men  ought  to  be 
that  way.  You  do  not  need  to  worry. 
You  will  find  plenty  of  work,  if  only 
you  have  a  mind  to  do  it." 

Thus,  comforting  him,  I  recognized 
the  simple,  cheerful,  and  yet  manly  tem- 
perament of  this  student.  Now  and 
then  the  older  companion  glanced 
stealthily  toward  us  with  distrustful 
looks.  I  could  not  understand  why  this 
student  had  such  a  companion.  I  in- 
quired of  him,  and  was  told  that  they 
became  comrades  by  chance.  They 
seemed  not  especially  friends  nor  men 
from  the  same  district;  in  other  words, 
they  were  only  fellow  wanderers. 

My  wife  took  out  some  apples  from 
150 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


her  package.  These  were  bought  the 
evening  before,  at  Awomori,  from  a  bas- 
ket when  we  were  surrounded  by  the 
women  who  sell  fruits.,  Ryunosuke  was 
fond  of  things  with  a  delicate  flavor, 
which  my  wife  seemed  to  remember. 
As  if  to  give  them  to  her  son,  she  se- 
lected the  alluring  yellow  apples  from 
the  green  ones  and  recommendecl  them 
to  the  two  young  men.  I  told  the 
younger  one  in  detail  of  the  loss  of  my 
son  and  the  reason  of  starting  on  this 
journey  with  my  wife,  who  cannot  hear 
well,  and  added: 

"This  also  must  be  the  work  of  fate, 
to  meet  you  in  this  place.  Please 
take  one  of  them.  Don't  be  cere- 
monious." 

"Come,  they  are  so  kind.    Let  us  ac- 
cept them,"  said  the  companion,  as  he 
pushed  forth  impudently. 
151 


PAULOWNIA 


"Please  do  so,"  I  urged  them,  offer- 
ing my  knife. 

My  wife  was  leaning  on  me  like  a 
child,  and  gazing  at  the  hands  of  the 
student  paring  the  apple.  Tears  of 
memory  seemed  to  flow  ceaselessly 
down  her  cheeks.  Forgetting  every- 
thing, even  our  bodies,  we  longed  for  the 
recalled  face  of  our  son  whom  we  never 
expected  to  see  in  this  world. 

The  student  and  his  companion  bit 
the  apples  like  hungry  animals,  so  that 
even  the  crunching  sounded  delicious, 
and  ate  them  heartily  with  vigor  and  ap- 
petite. 

"Sweet!  Isn't  it?"  Whispering  to 
his  companion,  the  student  smelfed  the 
flavor  of  the  apple,  squinting  his 
eyes. 

"Sweet!"  The  companion  also  tasted 
his  eagerly. 

152 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


By  the  time  the  one  o'clock  bell  had 
rung,  all  of  the  passengers  were  tired 
of  their  journey;  some  of  them  were  ly- 
ing down  with  their  packages  as  pil- 
lows, some  were  sleeping  on  the  deck 
with  their  mouths  open  like  fishes.    The 
reports  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War, 
which  were  much  discussed  about  the 
mast,  had  entirely  ceased.    There  was 
nobody  on  this  ship  who  did  not  desire 
speedily  to  reach  Hakodate.    The  only 
passengers  who  wished  to  continue  the 
journey  as  long  as  possible  in  this  way 
were  ourselves;  that  was  because  we 
knew  there  were  only  three  hours  more 
to  be  with  this  young  man,  and  be  re- 
minded of  Ryunosuke.    After  parting 
from  him  here,  we  were  not  sure  that  we 
should  ever  meet  him  again;  nay,  not 
only  should  we  never  see  again  our  son, 
but  we  should  probably  never  again  in 
153 


PAULOWNIA 


our  lives  see  the  face  that  resembled  his. 

"You  are  gazing  at  something,  aren't 
you?" 

The  student  stepped  out  and  patted 
the  shoulder  of  his  companion.  The 
companion  turned  to  him. 

"Look  at  that  smoke.'* 

"Smoke?" 

"It  is  strange  that  smoke  appears  in 
this  direction." 

"Let  me  see !  Where — no,  there  is  no 
smoke,  nothing  like  it." 

"Why,  can't  you  see  it?" 

Wondering  at  the  conversation  of 
these  two  men,  I  also  left  the  side  of 
the  mast.  Far  off  to  the  east  of  the 
Strait  the  dark  "Father  Tide"— on 
which  groups  of  cuttle-fish  are  accus- 
tomed to  ride  down,  that  Kurile  tide 
dipping  the  horizon, — shone  white  and 
yellow,  under  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
154 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


Groups  of  clouds  were  floating  in  the 
sky.  The  excessive  heat  of  a  mid-sum- 
mer noon  on  the  thirtieth  of  July, 
seemed  to  burn  the  sea.  The  sky  above 
the  horizon  was  a  dark  gray,  mingled 
with  purple.  The  air  was  hazy,  but 
nothing  like  smoke  was  to  be  seen.  Be- 
fore I  realized  it,  the  captain,  who,  for 
some  time  had  been  reading  "The  Law 
of  General  Average,"  went  up  to  the 
bridge,  and  was  eagerly  looking  through 
the  marine  glass. 

Suddenly,  we  felt  uneasy.  The  ship 
had  probably  sailed  at  a  fair  speed 
since  leaving  Awomori.  When  she  was 
sailing  at  full  speed  toward  Cape  Oma, 
which  was  on  her  starboard  side,  the 
cloud  of  smoke  was  seen  exactly  in  that 
direction.  After  twenty  minutes,  a  sec- 
ond smoke  appeared,  then  a  third.  The 
Vladivostock  fleet,  which  was  said  to 
155 


PAULOWNIA 


have  appeared  along  the  coast  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  was  slowly  sailing  from 
Cape  Oma  to  Cape  Tatsuhi.  Ap- 
proaching nearer,  the  ships  became 
more  distinct.  When  the  three  gray 
ships  of  the  enemy,  of  portentous  ap- 
pearance, were  seen  approaching  our 
defenseless  vessel,  sailors  and  passen- 
gers all  stood  up.  The  battle  formation 
of  the  enemy  was  in  single  line.  First 
came  the  Rossia,  then  the  Gron- 
boi — with  the  Riurick  a  little  behind 
them. 

Joyful  or  sad  memories  or  imaginings 
were  all  blotted  out  by  this  unexpected 
view.  Nobody  remained  in  the  dark 
cabin.  Forgetting  the  vertigo,  the  nau- 
sea, and  the  sufferings  of  fatigue,  the 
hundred  and  fifty  passengers  came  out 
at  once  on  deck.  All  those  who  have 
been  standing  at  the  stern  passed 
156 


TSUGAEU  STRAIT 


through  the  kitchen  and  pressed  toward 
the  prow. 

"Go  down!  Go  down!  Go  down  if 
you  want  to  save  your  life!" 

But  the  cries  and  scoldings  of  the  sail- 
ors could  not  control  the  confusion  of 
the  excited  men,  screaming  women  and 
children.  The  dreadful  sound  oF  the 
engine  gave  an  added  touch  of  gloom. 
As  the  enemy  were  known  to  be  such 
vicious  fighters  that  they  sank  even  the 
sailing  boat  Seishomaru  and  robbed  it 
of  the  money  and  cargo,  all  on  board 
felt  that  there  was  no  time  for  delay. 
They  bared  their  feet,  and  tucked  up 
their  skirts,  in  order  to  be  as  prepared  as 
possible. 

"I  will  take  charge  of  your 
wife." 

The  words  of  the  student  were  Hardly 
heard.  Having  already  lost  her  color, 
157 


PAULOWNIA 


my  wife  stood  shuddering,  close  to  the 
student. 

Death — we  were  face  to  face  with 
that  force !  A  group  of  sailors  took  off 
the  duck  rain-covers  from  the  lifeboats 
to  prepare  them  for  lowering  at  any  mo- 
ment. As  it  was  the  captain's  hope  to 
be  within  the  limit  of  the  protection  of 
the  fort,  if  only  the  ship  could  run  one 
hour  more  at  full  speed,  the  ship  dashed 
along  with  all  possible  speed,  nay,  even 
with  a  desperate  force  rather  than 
speed. 

In  this  dangerous  situation  there  ap- 
peared, suddenly,  from  the  direction  of 
Hakodate,  our  fleet  running  in  the  same 
direction  as  the  Russian  ships.  The 
enemy  also  saw  this  fleet  and,  seeming 
to  hesitate,  stopped  their  advance.  The 
fact  is  that  it  was  the  time  when  they 
took  the  last  resolution  to  pass  the 
158 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


Tsugaru  Strait  again.  Sending  up  vol- 
umes of  black  smoke,  they  began  all  at 
once  to  flee  like  a  flock  of  birds.  With 
the  exclamation  of  "Banzai!  Banzai!" 
all  the  people  on  the  deck  shook  their 
hats  toward  our  fleet. 

"Now,  we  are  safe!" 

Turning  back  to  my  wife,  I  sighed 
with  relief. 

"Safe!"  I  repeated.  My  wife  was 
still  leaning  on  the  shoulder  of  the  stu- 
dent. 

As  my  wife  and  I,  turning  again  to 
the  thought  of  our  son,  settled  down  to 
spend  the  few  remaining  hours  in  con- 
versation with  the  student,  the  mount 
Gagyu  appeared  to  our  view.  We 
caught  sight  of  the  red  cliff  jutting  into 
the  sea,  the  rugged  precipice  from 
whose  surface  the  reflection  of  the  sun 
shone  white  on  the  sky  of  the  port  of 
159 


PAULOWNIA 


Hakodate.  A  sea-gull  flew  near  to  the 
bulwark  as  if  to  congratulate  us  on  our 
safe  arrival. 

We  arrived  at  the  entrance  of  the 
port  at  the  appointed  hour,  four  o'clock. 
Ah!  How  great  the  joy  of  the  people 
when  they  saw  the  streets  of  Hakodate 
from  the  deck!  The  gray  roofs  of 
planed  board  on  the  slope  of  the  moun- 
tain ;  the  new  ridge  poles  soaring  among 
the  houses  built  in  Nanbu  style  of  stone 
and  sand;  the  landscape  covered  with 
the  green  leaves  of  Matsubuna  and 
Itaya,  from  the  high  tower  of  the  tem- 
ple shining  in  sunlight  to  the  custom 
house,  hospital,  and  the  buildings  of 
many  schools.  This  prospect  of  the  port 
of  New  Japan  extended  before  our 
eyes,  exciting  our  interest. 

The  enormous  group  of  people,  gath- 
ered on  the  seashore,  raised  a  wilcl  shout 
160 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


of  joy  to  welcome  the  safe  arrival  of  the 
liner.  The  Surugamaru  also  made  the 
air  resound  with  whistles!  Passing 
through  the  many  sailing  ships,  steam- 
boats, cargo-boats,  sampans  and  light- 
ers, the  Surugamaru  approached  the 
pier, — looking  like  a  scared  water-bird/ 
who  had  barely  escaped  from  peril,  ana 
was  hurrying  to  the  shore,  crying  out  to 
her  friends.  When  the  ship  stopped, 
and  seemed  to  sigh  with  relief,  the  waves 
lapped  about  her  with  whisperings. 

Then  the  passengers  jumped  into  the 
sampans  and  hastened  to  land  on  the 
pier.  What  a  sight  of  madness!  Per- 
sons landing,  persons  waiting  to  receive 
them,  parents  embracing  their  children, 
sisters  their  sisters,  caressing  and  em- 
bracing! All  the  women  wept  for  joy, 
which  stirred  the  emotion  of  all  onlook- 
ers. 

161 


PAULOWNIA 


At  last  the  time  came  to  part  with  the 
student.  Full  of  regret,  I  was  standing 
vacantly  in  the  crowd,  and  forgot  not 
only  the  clamoring  hotel-runners,  but 
everything,  even  to  the  package  I 
placed  on  the  ground  and  the  bag  I  was 
carrying,  wishing  only  to  continue 
speaking  with  this  young  man.  How  I 
was  moved  at  this  unexpected  intimacy 
and  this  parting,  thinking  over  the 
events  of  the  day's  voyage! 

Becoming  conscious  of  the  disappear- 
ance of  his  companion,  we  turned  back 
and  saw  his  arm  firmly  taken  by  a  big 
policeman. 

"There!  pickpocket!"  said  those  who 
gathered  around  us. 

"Look!  What  are  you  thinking 
about?  Don't  you  know  you  have  been 
robbed?" 

Being  addressed  by  the  policeman,  I 
162 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


was  aware  for  the  first  time  tHat  the 
package  I  had  placed  on  the  ground 
was  gone. 

"What!  Impudent!"  exclaimed  the 
student  excitedly.  "I  am  not  such  a 
man  as  to  commit  lawlessness!" 

"Don't  be  excited.  Where  did  you 
come  from?  I  myself  did  not  see  you 
break  the  law.  But  you  are  the  com- 
panion of  the  man  who  did  it,  aren't 
you?" 

As  the  policeman  said  this,  I  told  him 
every  fact  I  knew,  and  defended  the 
student  from  the  imputation  of  being  a 
suspicious  character.  The  policeman 
nodded  at  each  of  my  words  and,  after 
he  inquired  of  the  student  how  he  be- 
came a  companion  of  such  a  scoundrel 
as  the  pickpocket,  he  made  more  inquir- 
ies and  admonitions,  and  also  advised 
me  to  appear  against  the  thief  in  court. 
163 


PAULOWNIA 


"Wait  a  bit.  I  want  to  keep  your 
name  and  address." 

The  policeman  took  out  his  note-book 
and  gazed  at  the  face  of  the  student. 

"What  is  your  address?" 

"Kusatsu  town,  Awata  district,  Omi 
county." 

"Your  name?" 

"Nishihara  Yasutaro." 

"Your  age?" 

"Nineteen." 

After  this  catechism,  the  student 
bade  farewell  to  my  wife  and  me,  and 
started  again  on  his  wanderings.  I 
looked  at  the  appearance  of  his  back  as 
he  disappeared,  and  could  not  help  be- 
ing again  reminded  of  my  departed 
Ryunosuke.  My  wife,  weeping  and 
scarcely  able  to  stand,  looked  after  him, 
leaning  on  my  shoulder.  Gazing  this 
way  and  that,  we  continued  to  look  un- 
164 


TSUGARU  STRAIT 


til  the  straw  summer  hat,  the  student- 
like  figure  in  the  white  cloth  of  Kasuri, 
disappeared  amid  the  crowd,  and  at  last 
faded  away. 

THE  END 


•lit* 


